A brace from Guro Reiten and a Pernille Harder penalty got this year’s FA Cup journey up and running against Aston Villa at the Banks’s Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Emma Hayes made four changes to the side that won midweek against West Ham United at Kingsmeadow in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League.

Alsu Abdullina made her full debut for the Blues, while Zecira Musovic, Drew Spence and Jess Carter all came in to the starting 11 for Saturday’s FA Cup clash.

Ann-Katrin Berger, Niamh Charles, Erin Cuthbert, Sophie Ingle and Lauren James were named on the bench alongside youngsters Aimee Claypole and Emma Thompson.

Meanwhile for the hosts, Jill Scott made her first start for the Villans since signing on loan from Manchester City.

It took the Blues 10 minutes for our first clear-cut chance of the afternoon, with Fran Kirby looping a ball into the box for the on-running Reiten to connect with. Hannah Hampton in the Villa goal made herself look big to deny us an early opener.

Seven minutes later, we took the lead through Reiten as she received the ball in the box, turned and struck into the far corner past Hampton.

Our No.11 almost got a second immediately after as Harder danced her way through the Villa half and played the ball into the Norwegian, but Villa managed to hack it clear.

Harder then doubled our lead 10 minutes later when Reiten was hacked down in the penalty area. Our No.23 made no mistake and struck the ball into the top right-hand corner from 12 yards out, sending Hampton the wrong way.

Moments after Villa restarted play, the Blues almost got a third as Kirby intercepted the ball and fired from distance, forcing Hampton to parry the ball out towards the corner flag.

The hosts had little chances of note in the first half, though Sarah Mayling whipped in a curling free-kick which was comfortably headed clear by Jessie Fleming. Mayumi Pacheco tried her luck from distance but the strike was well high of Musovic’s goal.

Hayes made one change at the break with Niamh Charles replacing Harder. Abdullina nearly scored two minutes into the second half on her full debut for the Blues, Carter looping in a cross towards the back post and our No.27 was whiskers away from connecting to make it a third.

However, the Blues were relentless in trying to find another goal and their efforts paid off when Kirby squared the ball to Reiten, who rifled home just inside the 18-yard box, leaving Hampton no chance.

With 20 minutes remaining, James entered the fold, making her first appearance for the Blues since our Champions League victory against Servette in November. Our No.14 made an immediate impact after taking to the field and almost got a goal after skipping past two Villa defenders but striking just wide of the near post.

The second half also saw two young Blues come on for their senior debuts as Thompson and Claypole took to the field to see out a comfortable Chelsea win. The hosts did, however, get a late consolation goal in stoppage time as Petzelberger converted a penalty.

Chelsea will now prepare for an important week as we host Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Continental Tyres League Cup on Wednesday evening before playing host to Manchester City in the Women’s Super League on Sunday.

It will be second versus fifth on Sunday and the clash may well determine how close the fight for the league title will be, with the Blues currently four points behind Arsenal with a game in hand over the north London side.

Aston Villa (4-3-3) Hampton, Mayling, Allen (McLoughin 87), Asante (Corsie 68), Arthur (Hutton 68), Petzelberger, Hayles (Blindkilde 68), Littlejohn (Ewers 87), Pacheco, Scott, PattenUnused subs Rogers, Boye-Hlorkah, HaywoodScorer Petzelberger 90+3

Chelsea (4-1-4-1) Musovic, Andersson (Ingle 65), Nouwen, Bright, Carter, Spence, Fleming (Claypole 80), Abdullina (Thompson 80), Reiten, Harder (Charles 45), Kirby (James 71)Unused subs: Berger, CuthbertScorers Reiten 17, 61; Harder 27

Referee Abigail BryneAttendance 1,093