Chelsea see lead slip as stuttering run goes on

ANWAR El Ghazi cancelled out Olivier Giroud’s header as Aston Villa stole a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge to stay above Chelsea in the Premier League table.

El Ghazi tapped home at the far post with the Blues frustrated neither the officials nor Villa had stopped play, with Andreas Christensen out of commission after a heavy challenge with Jack Grealish.

Giroud had nodded Chelsea into a 1-0 half-time lead, the France striker gleefully posting his ninth Blues goal of the campaign in all competitions.

But Frank Lampard’s men could not get back to winning ways after their 3-1 loss at Arsenal on Boxing Day, to be left instead with just one win in their last five league matches.

Villa by contrast extended their unbeaten run to five matches, to sit fifth in the table and hold off Chelsea in sixth.

Chelsea boss Lampard made six changes from the Boxing Day defeat at Arsenal, but admitted his side were in a “tough moment”.

“I got a reaction in performance, started really well and we got a goal we deserved,” he said on Amazon Prime. “We conceded when we had a man on the floor and that is the run we are on in the minute.

“When you are in a tough moment things don’t go for you. A month ago we probably win that game, things go for you with a little bit of belief.

“Now it is a tough moment, but we have to fight through it. But I can’t ask for more than what the players gave, the way they worked for it. Nobody let me down today.”

Brendan Rodgers defended his decision to rotate key players after Leicester were held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace.

James Maddison was not even part of the squad while top goalscorer Jamie Vardy was only on the bench, with seven changes to the team which drew 2-2 with Manchester United.

In the end the Foxes were indebted to Harvey Barnes, one of four players who started 48 hours earlier, to salvage a point with his fine 83rd-minute equaliser cancelling out Wilfried Zaha’s opener early in the second half.

While Leicester have moved up to second, the general feeling at full-time was they had let points slip in the race to catch leaders Liverpool, who visit Newcastle tomorrow.

“James Maddison wasn’t fit so he couldn’t travel and Vards is managing an issue so to start him was always going to be really difficult, but we tried to get him into the game for half an hour,” Rodgers explained.

“If we felt we could play all the same players all the time and the team that played at the weekend, we would have done, but I have to trust the players.

“The performance today should have been enough to get the result. It didn’t and if there is any blame, it is certainly on me because I pick the team.”