Chelsea 7 Aston Villa 1: Frank Lampard hits four as rampant Blues go top

27 March 2010 17:08
Frank Lampard grabbed four as Chelsea demolished Aston Villa to soar back to the top of the Barclays Premier League table.[LNB]Lampard's quartet made him third-highest scorer in the club's history - eclipsing legends Roy Bentley and Peter Osgood with 151 goals.[LNB]Lampard was assisted by a double from Florent Malouda and another from substitute Salomon Kalou as Carlo Ancelotti's side smashed in 12 goals in four days.[LNB]Chelsea have now scored 82 goals so far this season and apart from John Carew's first-half equaliser, the Blues were in cruise control for long periods.[LNB]The victory put them back in front of Manchester United by two points although Sir Alex Ferguson's side play Bolton in the early evening kick-off.[LNB] On top of the pile: Frank Lampard's four goals sent Chelsea to the Premier League summit[LNB] [LNB]Chelsea, who left 30-goal top scorer Didier Drogba on the bench,started brightly enough with Deco finding Nicolas Anelka inside theVilla penalty area in the third minute.[LNB]But the France international, given the task of leading the attackin place of Drogba, shot into the arms of Brad Friedel at his near post.[LNB]Drogba, who scored twice in the 5-0 midweek demolition ofPortsmouth, was rested according to the club's assistant coach RayWilkins. [LNB]Lampard tried to surprise Friedel in the 14th minute with a lowdrive from 30 yards but the American goalkeeper was untroubled by thebounce.[LNB]But Chelsea went ahead a minute later when Malouda's low cross was turned home at the far post by Lampard.[LNB] Absolutely flying: Florent Malouda fired Chelsea's fifth - his fourth in two games[LNB]It was the England midfielder's 18th goal of the season in all competitions.[LNB]Villa's Stephen Warnock required treatment to a head injury after a collision with Joe Cole in the 23rd minute.[LNB]Controversy erupted in the 27th minute when John Mikel Obi appeared to elbow James Milner.[LNB]But referee Peter Walton booked Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov forprotesting about Mikel's challenge and took no action against theChelsea midfielder.[LNB]However, Villa were jubilant in the 29th minute when they equalised through Carew.[LNB]He converted a superb curling cross from Ashley Young at the far post to score his ninth goal in eight games.[LNB] Smashing: Frank Lampard beats Aston Villa's Brad Friedel from the penalty spot[LNB]Moments later Yury Zhirkov, who was clearly at fault for allowingCarew to ghost into space at the far post for Villa's goal, was bookedfor a foul Gabriel Agbonlahor.[LNB]Deco followed his Chelsea team-mate in the book moments later for a foul on Milner in the 40th minute.[LNB]But Chelsea restored their lead in the 44th minute through a Lampard penalty.[LNB]Referee Walton adjudged Zhirkov had been fouled by Villa defenderJames Collins as he burst into the penalty area and Lampard convertedthe spot-kick with ease.[LNB]Chelsea went 3-1 up in the 57th minute when Malouda finished off a sweeping move by the hosts.[LNB] Level pegging: John Carew hit his ninth goal in his last eight games to briefly restore parity[LNB][LNB]Deco's clever ball inside the full-back found Zhirkov in space andhis cross was met perfectly by Malouda for the France international toscore his 12th of the season.[LNB]Chelsea gave away a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the penalty area seconds later when Paulo Ferreira fouled Agbonlahor.[LNB]But Milner's effort was straight into the defensive wall to the dismay of the Villa fans.[LNB]Chelsea made Villa pay in the 62nd minute when Lampard grabbed hishat-trick, and his 20th of the season, with his second penalty of thegame.[LNB]Zhirkov was again fouled, this time by Richard Dunne, and Lampardbeat Friedel to become the joint third-highest scorer in the club'shistory.[LNB] Slide rule: The Villa defence is in tatters as Frank Lampard opens the scoring[LNB][LNB]It was a game of landmarks for the Blues with John Terry becomingthe club's all-time record captain. His 325th appearance eclipsedformer great Ron Harris and it was also Terry's 450th outing for theclub.[LNB]In the 68th minute, rampant Chelsea made it 5-1 when Ferreira andLampard combined to set-up Malouda for his second of the game and his13th of the season.[LNB]In the 82nd minute substitute Kalou sent a curling shot aroundFriedel's right-hand post but he found the target a minute later whenhe drilled the ball past Friedel from 18 yards.[LNB]Lampard then made it 7-1 with his fourth of the game in added time as Villa's 10-match unbeaten run came to a crashing halt.[LNB]It also made the midfielder the third-highest scorer in the club'shistory with 151 goals - only Kerry Dixon and Bobby Tambling are nowahead of him.[LNB] Premier League prize is bottom line for Chelsea boss Carlo AncelottiThree is magic number for O'Neill as Villa boss targets treble over ChelseaCHELSEA FC

Source: Daily_Mail