Lampard’s Blues boost Champions League bid

Veteran Giroud the hero as Chelsea see off struggling Villa in comeback victory

ASTON VILLA 1 CHELSEA 2

Chelsea boosted their hopes of Champions League qualification after quickfire goals from Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud earned a 2-1 comeback success at struggling Aston Villa yesterday.

Veteran striker Giroud claimed the Blues’ second-half winner at Villa Park with a deflected finish, less than two minutes after substitute Pulisic had levelled.

Beleaguered Villa had been on track to climb out of the Premier League relegation zone following Kortney Hause’s maiden top-flight strike shortly before the break.

Dean Smith’s men remain a single point from safety but have an inferior goal difference to their relegation rivals aftertheirwinlessleaguerunstretchedto six league matches.

Chelsea’s first top-flight away victory of 2020, in Frank Lampard’s 100th game as a manager, moves them five points clear of fifth-placed Manchester United and to within three points of third-placed Leicester.

After Hause’s scruffy 43rd-minute opener, United States international Pulisic made an instant impact by crashing home a half-volley via the underside of the crossbar only five minutes after coming off the bench before Frenchman Giroud swivelled to benefit from a ricochet off Villa midfielder Conor Hourihane moments later.

Lampard feels Pulisic is ready to make an impact again.

The Blues boss said: “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, after his 100th game as a manager.

“He was hungry. I know that and I felt for him, as I felt for the players with longterm 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.

“It’s the difference between being a very good player off the side, an attacking player, or the players at the real top level of the game that arrive and score in the six-yard box and hit numbers yearly.”

Villa boss Smith said: “Unfortunately a little bit of quality and fortune favoured them.”