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When it was absolutely imperative to win, Chelsea did. Lose against Aston Villa and Unai Emery's side would go nine points clear of the Blues, lose and Chelsea would have failed to capitalise on Liverpool's slip up at Molineux, lose and the fan base would not have been a very positive place.

Joao Pedro, though, wants Champions League football more than anyone else, seemingly. The 24-year-old forward has been exceptional for a couple of months now and the £60million Chelsea paid Brighton for his services last summer is looking like more and more of a bargain with each goal.

The Brazil international has 17 of those now (in all competitions), 14 in the Premier League. Joao Pedro also has the joint-second most non-penalty goals in the league. He is well on course now to reach 20 goals - and if so, he will become the first striker to do that for Chelsea since Diego Costa in 2016/17, almost a decade ago.

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What is even more impressive is the former Brighton man's knack of producing when Chelsea need him most. He was the match-winner in Naples in January, when the Blues needed three points in order to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages via the top eight and he did it again on Wednesday evening in a victory that might prove pivotal in their season.

It will only prove significant if Chelsea can follow the win up, though, as Liam Rosenior rightly explained post-match at Villa Park: "It's only significant if we back it up. We have to be consistent.

"We have a massive FA Cup game [vs Wrexham on Saturday], then we've got a huge game in Paris, and then we've got another huge game against Newcastle. We just need to back it up and not look at the significance of the games. We just need to perform, and if we perform at that level, we're going to be in a good place."

On Joao Pedro's hat-trick, Rosenior said: "He's a top player. I think he's grown in confidence. I think his hold-up play, the energy he puts into the team in terms of his press, his movement, his goal with the left foot is world-class. The finish is magnificent.

"But actually, I'm really, really delighted with the two tap-ins that he got. He was in the right place at the right time. We worked hard with him on that, but he got the hat-trick."

"What a team, what a guy," Alejandro Garnacho wrote on his Instagram post-match, alongside a photo of him posing with the hat-trick hero. Garnacho was unselfish to put the ball on a plate for Joao Pedro's third goal of the match. Considering this was Garnacho's first start since January 31 in the league, the Argentine might have been inclined to shoot himself and probably score but he put the team first.

Garnacho deputised due to Pedro Neto's one-match suspension but Rosenior said pre-match that the former Manchester United winger was "more than knocking on his door" for a start. The 21-year-old's intensity levels in training have really impressed Rosenior in recent weeks and that is why Wednesday's performance in the Midlands came as no real shock to the Chelsea head coach.

"That's normally what happens," Rosenior replied when asked about Garnacho's training levels coinciding with an impressive display on the pitch. "When you're professional, you do everything right on the training pitch.

"He's really impressed me the last few weeks. He's impressed me the most while he's been out of the team, because his reaction to being out of the team is professionalism. The intensity that he's trained at, it's no coincidence that he's going to perform like that today.

"That's the most pleasing thing for me, he deserved that today. he should have got a goal, but he was in the right position, and I loved how unselfish he was to set up the goal for Joao."

Rosenior would have liked a clean sheet, he admitted that post-match, and he also thought Chelsea were denied a clear penalty when the Blues were behind early on. Reece James collided with Ian Maatsen inside the Villa box but the referee shook his head - leaving the Chelsea captain incensed. As soon as James returned to his feet, he sprinted over to the fourth official before giving the referee an earful.

Thankfully for the Blues, it did not prove costly. A really impressive performance against a fellow Champions League hopeful. While impressive, it leaves you scratching your head because you know how good this Chelsea team can be, but in recent weeks they have consistently shot themselves in the foot.