Lampard hails back-up boys
FRANK LAMPARD praised his super subs for providing the inspiration Chelsea needed after his prediction about their value in the second part of the season proved correct at Aston Villa. Chelsea were toiling and trailing to Kortney Hause’s shock first-half goal until Christian Pulisic and Ross Barkley came off the bench. Winger Pulisic scored five minutes after coming on before Olivier Giroud’s deflected winner, also set up by captain Cesar Azpilicueta, earned Chelsea a victory which extended their lead over fifth-placed Manchester United to five points. Chelsea manager Lampard said: ‘I have selection problems and some good ones. The idea of bringing on Christian and Ross Barkley early in the second half was always something I had in my mind, depending on how the game went. ‘We needed a bit of inspiration. Christian gave it with his goal, Ross did really well too and I keep saying to the players how important subs will be in this period. They showed that.’ Premier League rules were changed to allow clubs to name nine substitutes rather than seven and use five instead of three to ease the strain on players facing a backlog of games in a short space of time. It looks certain to favour bigger clubs with more quality to call upon and Villa manager Dean Smith said: ‘I was not keen on the nine subs rule. Look at the nine subs Chelsea had before the match and it fills you with fear.’ Pulisic’s match-changing goal, his seventh of the season, came in his first appearance since New
Year’s Day. A thigh injury had sidelined him. Lampard said: ‘His ability to arrive in the box is a big thing I’ve spoken with him about all season. It’s the difference between being a very good attacking player or players at the real top level who arrive, score in the six-yard box and hit big numbers yearly. I really think Christian can do that.’ Chelsea deserved their turnaround victory despite going in behind. Lampard, who had seen Leicester and United both drop points in the topfour race, added: ‘We had to make sure we kept moving the ball as quickly as we could, kept attacking down the sides and not get bored of doing things that were going to give Villa problems. The players needed to believe and they did. We didn’t know exactly what we were coming into and now we have three points when some teams around us lost points.’ Villa remain second from bottom though they are only a point behind fourth-bottom West Ham, who lost to Wolves. Smith added: ‘We have got as much of a chance (of staying up) as any of the other teams down there.’