Chelsea 2-1 victory against Aston Villa extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points

With nearest rivals Manchester City held at home by Hull, Branislav Ivanovic's winner secured a vital victory for the leaders.
Villa, who had not scored in the league since 20 December, responded well after falling behind to Eden Hazard's early goal and levelled through Jores Okore's header at the start of the second half.
But Ivanovic restored the Blues' advantage after 66 minutes and they went on to secure Jose Mourinho's first win at
Villa Park at the sixth attempt.

The spirit Villa showed in defeat will be scant consolation for Paul Lambert's struggling side, whose winless run now stands at nine league games, but it appeared they were heading for a far worse defeat when Hazard opened the scoring after eight minutes.
That goal was scored far too easily from Villa's point of view, with their defence being carved apart as Oscar escaped down the right and fed Willian, who found Hazard running into the area to slot home.
Villa's main tactic in Lambert's 100th league game in charge seemed to be to fire a succession of crosses into the box, despite that fact their out-of-form target man Christian Benteke was dropped to the bench and Gabriel Agbonlahor did not offer much of an aerial threat in his place.