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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has backed “hungry” Christian Pulisic to play a big part in the Blues’ bid for a top-four finish in the Premier League after the forward scored in Sunday’s 2-1 win at Aston Villa.

The visitors controlled the first half but fell behind when Kepa failed to hold Anwar El Ghazi’s shot and Kortney Hause was on hand to bundle in.

Lampard sent Pulisic on in the 55th minute and five minutes later the United States international equalised when he lashed Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross into the roof of the net.

Olivier Giroud then sealed victory two minutes later when he drove in from 15 yards with the help of a slight deflection.

Pulisic was playing his first game since New Year’s Day after recovering from injury and Lampard is confident he will be an important player for him in the run-in.

“He will start games for us, of course, and I think he’s going to be a big player for us, not just in this run-in but going forward,” he said.

“He was hungry. I know that and I felt for him, as I felt for the players with long-term injuries.

“The ability he’s got to arrive in the box, it’s a big thing, I’ve spoken about it with him all season.”

The win means fourth-placed Chelsea restored their five-point advantage over Manchester United and Wolves, who are fifth and sixth respectively.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, remain in the relegation zone, one point from safety after taking one point from their first two games back following the resumption of the Premier League.

The suspension of the season had perhaps come at a frustrating time for Chelsea. They had just beaten Liverpool 2-0 in the FA Cup fifth round and then thrashed Everton 4-0 in the league.

But, 105 days on from that win against the Toffees, Chelsea looked fresh and motivated from the outset against a Villa side fighting for survival.

The only concern, however, was their inability to turn chances into goals - particularly in the first half.

Mason Mount saw a powerful strike kept out by Villa keeper Orjan Nyland before Ruben Loftus-Cheek, making a welcome return to the side after a year out with injury, just failed to turn home a teasing ball across the face of goal.

It could have proved costly, particularly when Villa scored from only their second shot on target to take the lead.

In the end Chelsea got the job done but, with 19 attempts on goal, they should perhaps have won by a more comfortable margin.

“It has been the story of our season - to play well, concede and then have to fight your way to try and get the victory,” Lampard added.

“We haven’t always got the victory and that is the next step for us - to be clinical when we are on top.”

The signing of Timo Werner for next season will hopefully address Chelsea’s struggles to make the most of their opportunities but for now, Frank Lampard will hope his current forwards will use the striker’s impending arrival as motivation to be more clinical in the end-of-season run-in.

A tough return but some hope for Villa

It has been a tough return to Premier League action for Aston Villa, who resumed their survival bid against two opponents fighting to secure European football next season.

They were fortunate to pick up a point against Sheffield United, with goalline technology failing to register a goal for the Blades.

But despite seeing their winless run in the Premier League extended to six games, there are some signs of encouragement for Villa.

They competed well against high-flying Sheffield United and against Chelsea they started with a good shape and discipline that initially served to frustrate their opponents, although seemingly lacked a Plan B and never looked like getting back into the game once they fell behind.

Jack Grealish has also continued to be an influential and dangerous presence in their team. He was involved in the move that led to their goal against Chelsea and if he can continue to shine in midfield, then Dean Smith’s side still have a fighting chance of survival.

“I think we made Chelsea work very hard. It was always going to be a tough game for us - Chelsea are an established Champions League team,” said Villa boss Smith

“We have worked all through the lockdown to be tougher to beat defensively and I thought we were. It took a great ball in for the first goal and they got a bit of fortune for the second.

“We are disappointed with the goals but you have to work hard against teams like Chelsea and I felt we did that.”
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*The Guardian*
*Sunday, 21 June 2020*

Giroud completes Chelsea turnaround at Aston Villa to bolster top-four spot

Two goals in two minutes boosted Chelsea’s chances of a top-four finish and punctured Aston Villa’s dwindling survival hopes. Villa glimpsed a precious and improbable victory against a clearly superior team when Kortney Hause gave them a surprising lead just before half-time. But that prize soon vanished amid a rapid-fire salvo from Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud. Once they had edged in front, Chelsea never looked like being caught.

Frank Lampard hopes the same stays true of the race for Champions League qualification, where his fourth-placed team now enjoy a five-point lead over Manchester United and Wolves. Villa remain stragglers in second-bottom. Their fixture list is daunting and if they are to clamber out of trouble they will need players such as Jack Grealish and John McGinn to exert much more influence than they were able to show here.

Chelsea, on the other hand, could take heart from how bright they looked in their first outing since March, particularly as Villa had the supposed advantage of restarting the season sooner. Dean Smith had been sufficiently enthused by his team’s performance against Sheffield United on Wednesday that he sent out the same starting lineup, meaning the goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland retained his place after escaping unpunished for carrying the ball over the line against Chris Wilder’s men.

Malfunctioning technology was not so kind to Chelsea’s goalkeeper here, as Villa Park’s sprinklers suddenly activated in the fourth minute to give Kepa Arrizabalaga an unexpected splashing. Happily for the Spaniard, play was up the other end at the time. It stayed there for most of the match.

Chelsea ran midfield, with N’Golo Kanté ubiquitous in his first deployment since February and Mason Mount darting artfully. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, meanwhile, returned to action for the first time since injuring an ankle in May 2019. He, like his teammates, looked comfortable for most of a first half in which Villa mostly stood off the visiting side.

Willian, with bursts of acceleration that left opponents flailing, threatened from the start. If Mount had been able to get on the end of a vicious cross from the Brazilian in the third minute, Chelsea might have been in for a fun afternoon, but Matt Targett intervened. In the ninth minute it was the turn of Tyrone Mings to come to the rescue, the centre-back hurling himself in front of a shot by Willian.

Villa did little at the other end to perturb Chelsea until the 16th minute, when Giroud charged down a shot by Conor Hourihane after a corner. Five minutes later Nyland had to fling himself to his right to paw away a rasping shot from 20 yards by Mount.

As the pressure from Chelsea increased, William tried to shatter the home side’s resistance on the half-hour, driving another dangerous ball across the face of goal. Giroud lunged for it but missed it by millimetres. Moments later Mount pinged in another cross from a similar position, and this time Nyland punched it clear.

Arrizabalaga did not have to stretch himself until the 33rd minute, when Anwar El Ghazi forced him to parry a drive from 25 yards. A minute later El Ghazi picked out McGinn with a lovely cross from the left. The Scot, having made one of this characteristic bursts from deep, did not connect cleanly with his header from eight yards.

Chelsea sought to re-establish their dominance. Mount danced past Hourihane down the right and flashed in a low cross that Loftus-Cheek came achingly close to converting. The visiting side’s frustration deepened when Villa struck a surprising blow just before the interval.

Grealish, receiving the ball in an attacking position for one of the few times in the game, offloaded to Douglas Luiz, who clipped a searching cross from the right to the back post, where Villa had two players against one defender. Arrizabalaga blocked Hause’s initial shot but the centre-back reacted smartly, swivelling at the edge of the six-yard box and shunting the ball over the line.

Villa had kept a rare clean sheet on Wednesday and now knew that another would lift them out of the relegation zone. Could they withstand the pressure Chelsea would inevitably apply? After seeing his team make no inroads in the first 10 minutes of the second half, Lampard sent reinforcements from his bench. One of the arrivals, Pulisic, made his mark within five minutes, guiding a cross from the right by César Azpilicueta into the net from close range via the underside of the bar. Two minutes later Azpilicueta reprised his run and cross from the right, and this time Giroud converted from 10 yards. That was that.

“I’m really pleased with the performance,” said Lampard. “We moved the ball pretty well most of the game and dominated possession. If we had been a little bit more clinical, it would have been an easier afternoon.”