Unintimidated by visiting a stadium where Villa had lost just once in the Premier League this season, Chelsea started on the front foot, and took less than nine minutes to draw first blood.
Pedro Neto marauded down the right and pulled it across goal from the byline, his cross avoiding Emiliano Martínez’s gloves and finding a completely unmarked Enzo Fernández to tap in from close range.
The Villa Park faithful predictably roared their side on, and there was a riposte from Ollie Watkins, although this time Filip Jörgensen was firmly in the way of his effort.
As the pendulum swung, Fernández curled just over in search of his second, while Watkins was unable to touch beyond Jörgensen after Youri Tielemans’ cross.
A fortuitous lead-extender nearly came for Chelsea when Cole Palmer’s shot was almost deflected inside the near post, before Christopher Nkunku tested Martínez with a bending effort, but there were some encouraging signs late on in the half for a Villa side that was searching for a first win since mid-January.
Marcus Rashford’s introduction off the bench promised to further improve things for the hosts, and it took him less than 15 minutes to combine with another January signing for the equaliser.
Matty Cash’s diagonal ball put Rashford in behind at the far post, and the Manchester United loanee prodded it across the face for Asensio to tap into the empty net.
The pitch then opened up as Villa committed players forward, but they nearly paid the price when Moisés Caicedo slid through Palmer, who beat Martínez but not the retreating Ezri Konsa with his attempt.
Villa looked the more likely to find a late winner, and Donyell Malen was unable to beat Jörgensen one-on-one, but Villa’s new dynamic duo combined again in the 89th minute to hand the Villans the victory.
Rashford played a one-two with Tielemans from a corner before fizzing it into Asensio, who took it first time to squeeze it underneath Jörgensen.
With six away wins and a draw so far on matchday 26, Villa bucked the trend to become the first home winners of the weekend in the PL.
It also snaps a five-match winless streak and places them just one point behind Chelsea, who remain in sixth after failing to win any of their last six league matches on the road.