Chelsea 2 – Villa 1
by Amar Azam
at Stamford Bridge

CHELSEA returned to winning ways under Frank Lampard against Aston Villa on Wednesday night, after a surprise home defeat to West Ham last weekend.

Chelsea took the lead through Tammy Abraham after 24 minutes before Dean Smith’s men struck back just before half-time. But a superb goal from Mason Mount early in the second half sealed the points for the home side.

“I thought that we were great,” said Lampard after the game. “I’m pleased because that was us again. We had a blip against West Ham and today we were back.

“Our character at half-time was important and we carried off where we left off. Villa are stubborn. They have picked up results on the road and you can see why.”

The match ended on a sour note for the club’s top-scorer Abraham, who hobbled off the pitch late on having missing out on the defeat to West Ham through injury. Lampard said after the game that the injury this time was not serious.

The evening had begun with the Stamford Bridge faithful warmly acknowledging the return of John Terry, their former captain and now assistant head coach at Aston Villa.

The match itself was an enjoyable contest. The visitors’ back-line was breached on 24 minutes when Abraham rose high above his marker to head the ball beyond goalkeeper Tom Heaton.

Despite their unsteady recent form, Chelsea’s players grew in confidence after taking the lead and Smith’s men rarely threatened as they had a difficult first half.

But, minutes before the interval, the Midlands side took an unlikely lead through Egyptian striker Trezeguet — who bundled the ball in from close range after a cross from Ahmed Elmohamady was not cleared by Chelsea’s defenders.

Chelsea didn’t need long to reclaim their lead when Mount slammed the ball home with a thunderous volley. Deflated by the blow, Villa’s players were unable to recover.

Willian nearly extended the home side’s lead on 80 minutes, but his free-kick was superbly saved by Heaton.

Douglas Luis came close with an 89th minute header, but Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga responded swiftly to palm away the goal-bound effort.

The west London side travel to Everton this weekend looking to add to the win.

Villa boss Smith said: “The best team won on the night. I am disappointed by the manner of the goals. We want to be a passing and moving team, but we didn’t move it quick enough.”