Source: Daily_Mail
Chelsea 7 Aston Villa 1: Frankly, you're not having such a bad season...
Around half an hour before kickoff, Frank Lampard collected an award for being, in the opinion of their fans from both Dublin and Malta, Chelsea's best player of last season. [LNB]High praise indeed and better late than never you might think. The same could be said of Lampard's timely flourish as the current campaign draws to a dramatic close. [LNB]The conventional wisdom is that the England midfielder has not quite lived up to his own very high standards this season. [LNB] On the up: Chelsea's four-goal hero Frank Lampard celebrates his third and even draws a smile from team-mate Nicolas Anelka[LNB] [LNB]But there can be no doubt that he was back to his hugely influential old self against Aston Villa. [LNB]And if Lampard is indeed saving the best until last, then a returnof 20 goals for the fifth season in succession would tend to suggestthat what has gone before has not been too shabby after all. [LNB]Four goals against Villa in this 7-1 mauling, two from the penalty spot, brought his tally to 21 so far. [LNB]And if Lampard can maintain this level of performance in Chelsea'sremaining six games, starting against Manchester United on Saturday, hewill have a huge say in bringing the Barclays Premier League title backto Stamford Bridge. [LNB]'It's not bad for having an average or bad season as some people say,' chuckled the 31-year-old as he discussed his goal haul. [LNB]'I want to get to this level because it's the real business end ofthe season. I want to score goals now to help us in these big gamescoming up.' [LNB] Absolutely flying: Florent Malouda fired Chelsea's fifth - his fourth in two games[LNB]He was not the only player on song against Villa. The 32-year-oldDeco rolled back the years with one of his best performances in aChelsea shirt, Yuri Zhirkov's driving runs earned his side twospot-kicks and Florent Malouda's scintillating display was capped bytwo wonderfully taken goals. [LNB]Enlarge Substitute Salomon Kalou even got in on the act, grabbing Chelsea'ssixth - his first league goal of the season - before Lampard completedthe rout in added time. [LNB]Having asked his charges whether they were good players or simplyjust well-paid after Chelsea's defeat by Inter Milan in the ChampionsLeague, owner Roman Abramovich will have been only too pleased to seeactions speak louder than words. [LNB]This was exactly the kind of football the Russian has craved sincebuying the club but it was underpinned by the necessary grit anddetermination needed to engineer such an emphatic win over a side aswell drilled as Villa. [LNB]'That football is the way we want to play,' insisted Lampard. [LNB]'There's a certain middle ground. I have seen Man United grind out alot of results at times. You want to play good football, but you needto have a fighting spirit to dig out results, and people will saythat's why Arsenal haven't won anything for a few years.' [LNB] Smashing: Frank Lampard beats Aston Villa's Brad Friedel from the penalty spot[LNB]Those 'people' might not be changing their tune this season either.If Chelsea can come away from Old Trafford with all three points, itwill be their title to lose. [LNB]MATCH FACTSCHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Cech 7; Ferreira 6, Alex 6, Terry 7, Zhirkov 8 (Van Aanholt 76min); Obi 7, Lampard 9; J Cole 6 (Kalou 76), Deco 8 (Ballack 72, 6), Malouda 9; Anelka 7.Booked: Zhirkov, Deco, Ferreira.[LNB]ASTON VILLA (4-4-1-1): Friedel 4; L Young 4, Collins 4, Dunne 4, Warnock 3; Agbonlahor 5 (Beye 71, 4), Petrov 4 (Downing 63, 4), Sidwell 5, A Young 6; Milner 5; Carew 5 (Delfouneso 63, 5).Booked: Petrov, Dunne.[LNB]Man of the match: Frank Lampard.Referee: Peter Walton [LNB]Performances such as those against Portsmouth and Villa bode well,especially when viewed alongside Chelsea's displays against others ofthe 'top four' this season, a record which reads played four, won four,so far. 'It's nice that we won those games,' said Lampard. [LNB]'Thank God we did, because we wouldn't be where we are now if we hadn't. [LNB]'You have to be on your game at Old Trafford and be tacticallydisciplined. We know we have got the quality to get a result there ifwe are at our best. [LNB]'We can go there with confidence. We know, if we win, we can go top, and that will give us a little moral victory.' [LNB] Level pegging: John Carew hit his ninth goal in his last eight games to briefly restore parity[LNB][LNB]Lifting morale is the task that lies ahead for Martin O'Neill beforeVilla meet Chelsea again in an FA Cup semi-final after a potentiallytricky trip to Bolton in the league next weekend. [LNB]A thrashing did not look on the cards after John Carew's strike hadcancelled out Lampard's opener. But, once Chelsea got to grips withVilla's one-dimensional play, the visitors simply folded. [LNB]'We were well beaten and stopped competing and stopped doingeverything that you're supposed to do in this professional game,' wasO'Neill's honest assessment before turning his attention to their nextmeeting with Chelsea. [LNB]'We need to play a lot better than we did today, it's as simple as that,' he said. [LNB] Slide rule: The Villa defence is in tatters as Frank Lampard opens the scoring[LNB][LNB]'But last time we were at Wembley, I thought we gave as good as wegot against Manchester United, and I'm sure we will go with the sameattitude again.' [LNB]In deciding how best to tackle Manchester United, Ancelotti must decide whether to play Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba or both. [LNB]Drogba was rested against Villa as Anelka was previously againstPortsmouth and Chelsea looked all the better for adopting the lonestriker approach in both games. [LNB]'The managers choice was proved right today,' said Lampard. [LNB]'Of course, Didier Drogba has been our best player this season by some distance.' [LNB]We will have to wait 12 months to see if the fans from Dublin and Malta agree.[LNB][LNB] [LNB]
