Ollie Watkins and John McGinn scored as Unai Emery masterminded another victory away from home against Chelsea to compound Graham Potter’s woes.
Ollie Watkins opened the scoring by lobbing over Kepa Arrizabalaga after Marc Cucurella headed the ball into his path at Stamford Bridge before John McGinn’s second-half rocket put the game out of reach for the home side.
It was a familiar tale for the Blues, who squandered chance after chance as Villa exploited their weakness on the counter-attack.
It is the Villans fifth win on the road since Emery took over in October and means they have now picked up 16 points away from home, a tally equalled only by Manchester City in that time.
Aston Villa’s record of 26 points in 14 games under Emery is bettered only by the Premier League’s top three – Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs.
All 10 of Chelsea’s victories this season have come against bottom-half opposition but this loss means they drop into 11th themselves while Villa move up to ninth, one point off Liverpool in eighth.
This is Chelsea’s 10th loss this term and have picked just two wins in the last five games.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth leapt out of the Premier League relegation zone with a second-half turnaround as goals from Marcus Tavernier and Dominic Solanke helped them beat Fulham at Vitality Stadium after ANdreas Pereira had initially given the Cottagers the lead.
Alexis Mac Allister scored a last-minute penalty as Brighton fought back three times against Brentford to earn a point in a breathless Premier League encounter at Amex Stadium.
Podence grabbed a late equaliser as Wolves held Nottingham Forest to a 1-1 draw at the City Ground and Crystal Palace snatched victory over fellow strugglers Leicester City as Jean-Philippe Mateta scored deep into stoppage time in Roy Hodgson’s first game back in charge.