London: Diego Costa scored his eighth goal in six Premier League games to help give Chelsea a 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday and consolidate top spot in the standings.
Costa headed in the second goal in the 59th minute after Oscar had put Chelsea ahead in the seventh minute at Stamford Bridge.
Brazilian midfielder Willian rounded off the win in the 79th as Chelsea bounced back from conceding Frank Lampard's late equaliser against Manchester City last weekend.
It was Chelsea's fifth win to go with the draw at City, putting them three points clear of Southampton atop the standings with 16 points.
It was Villa's second straight loss after a great start to the season, with Paul Lambert's side remaining on 10 points.
In another match, Southampton stayed second in the league after beating visiting Queens Park Rangers 2-1.
Southampton's fourth win from six matches kept it three points shy of league leader Chelsea.
Following a wasteful first half, Southampton finally scored in the 54th minute when Sadio Mane's backheel sent on-loan defender Ryan Bertrand behind the defense to blast home under QPR goalkeeper Rob Green.
Charlie Austin leveled for QPR 12 minutes later in style, controlling Eduardo Vargas' cross and spinning to score.
QPR's joy lasted only two minutes, however, as striker Graziano Pelle announced his presence with an acrobatic scissor-kick for the winner. The match finished better than it started with Southampton hitting the woodwork twice, and QPR once.
Crystal Palace scored twice in a five-minute span to beat Leicester 2-0.
Fraizer Campbell gave the host the lead in the 51st minute before Mile Jedinak added the second four minutes later and Leicester couldn't find another miracle comeback this time.
Leicester came from two goals down to beat Manchester United 5-3 last weekend but was given a reality check at Selhurst Park.
It was a second win in six days for Neil Warnock's side after beating Everton in the previous round.
Palace went ahead when Jason Puncheon's deep corner was headed toward goal by Scott Dann, with Campbell scrambling it past Kasper Schemiechel from close range. Jedinak then powered home a free kick from the left-hand side of the box to double the hosts' advantage.
Connor Wickham wasted a great opportunity to earn a first win of the season for Sunderland over 10-man Swansea with the uninspiring encounter ending 0-0.
The unmarked striker was picked out by Sebastian Larsson six yards from goal with 16 minutes of a tight contest remaining, but he sent his header over the bar to let the Swans off the hook as the Black Cats had to settle for their fifth draw in six league games.
In a game of few clear-cut chances, the home side enjoyed the better of them with Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski having to be at his best before the break.
Swansea had full-back Angel Rangel sent off for a second yellow card nine minutes from time at the Stadium of Light.
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