Ollie Watkins insisted "teams are worried" about Aston Villa, while hailing "tactical genius" Unai Emery following their impressive comeback victory over Chelsea.

Villa recorded their club-record-equalling 11th straight win in all competitions, after coming from behind to prevail 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Emery's side remain within three points of Premier League leaders Arsenal in third place, following an eighth successive league victory.

Watkins became the second substitute to score a brace against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in this season's Premier League, after Brighton's Danny Welbeck.

The England striker paid tribute to Emery as he discussed his side's title chances.

"[Emery] changed it because Chelsea were going man for man, but they had the extra centre-back when we were going long," Watkins told Sky Sports.

"When I came on in the second half, he brought Jadon Sancho and Morgan Rogers on the wing, and put Youri Tielemans in the number 10 [role], so we had an extra man in there. He's a tactical genius.

"I feel like teams are worried about us, even if we may not play the prettiest football at times. We're taking each game as it comes and focusing on ourselves, really.

"There's a lot of talk about us, and people asking if we can win the title, but it's a long way away. We're just focusing on the next game."

Watkins has scored in three of his last four Premier League appearances at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea (four goals). Since the start of 2020-21, only Erling Haaland (24) has scored more away top-flight goals in London than him (18).

"He was so, so focused," Emery said of the forward. "Keeping the game plan like we planned and doing his tasks, he's normally getting his numbers and, today, scoring goals is fantastic."

Villa could move level on points with Arsenal if they beat the Gunners on Tuesday, but Emery insists there is still a long way to go.

"We are playing against Arsenal, and our mentality is to compete strongly," he added. 

"Of course, we are performing very well, we are winning matches in a row, we are competing fantastically. There are still another 20 matches to play."