Unai Emery admitted that Aston Villa have lost the element of surprise that powered them to the Champions League places last season, after his side’s troubling winless run was extended to eight matches.

For long periods on Sunday afternoon at Chelsea, the answers seemed further away than ever. The home side, who trailed in Villa’s shadow the past two seasons and who Emery’s men would like to consider rivals in the race for Champions League football, fizzed with energy and belief.

Ross Barkley joined Aston Villa for a minimal fee in the summer following Luton Town's relegation to the Championship

Unai Emery is the most methodical of managers - the return to fitness of Kamara has come at a good time for Aston Villa

"At the beginning of the season, we can sense some teams were better than us and one of them is Chelsea. We try to keep the balance and not be frustrated. "We are going to try again to recover our confidence for Wednesday against Brentford."

Aston Villa's run of poor form continued Sunday as they were defeated 3-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Villa were outperformed by the

Even by his stands Emery, has been putting in extra hours. Villa's manager is desperate to end their run of four straight defeats

A goalless draw against the Italian giants means Emery’s side are winless in seven - so should fans be worried?

Aston Villa were denied an injury-time winner against Juventus in controversial fashion, with Unai Emery and Ollie Watkins both describing the decision as soft. Morgan Rogers thought he had poked home a 94th minute goal to put the home side 1-0 ahead,