PHIL SPEED AHEAD
played only 45 minutes of football this season – and both Jorginho and Emerson were recalled.
Remy, 32, netted 12 goals in 47 games for Chelsea between 2014 and 2016 but significantly, Lille top scorer Victor Osimhen was on the bench with a key Ligue 1 clash looming against Montpellier on Friday.
This was a dead game for the French side who had picked up just one Champions League point before kick-off.
Lampard had called for personality from his team after the disappointing 3-1 defeat at Everton and he got it.
Chelsea were much sharper and more aggressive, admittedly against a young Lille side. Christian Pulisic pulled a shot wide early on in the swirling rain at Stamford Bridge, then goalkeeper Mike Maignan pulled off a fine save from the American.
Blues midfielder N’Golo Kante shot wide but the goal was coming. It arrived in the 19th minute when Pulisic fed Willian, who beat his man and crossed for Abraham to coolly flick the ball home for his 13th goal of the season.
The second came in the 35th minute as Emerson swung a deadly corner in from the left and Azpilicueta arrived unmarked to head home. Thiago Maia fired an effort over from an angle but Lille were offering little.
Chelsea, with Jorginho back making things tick in midfield, looked much more balanced and inventive.
Pulisic in particular was causing Lille all kinds of problems with his trickery and pace and the return of Rudiger to the defence gave Chelsea much more authority.
The lively Pulisic went close again when Maignan had to push out his shot and Willian should done better than put the rebound straight at the keeper. Then the Brazilian saw his curling free-kick well saved.
But suddenly, in the 78th minute, Remy fired the ball into the roof of the net and fingernails were being bitten.
Remarkably, though, this ended up being Chelsea’s first home Champions League win in more than two years.
Fourteen times in the last 15 attempts before last night they had made the last 16 and, while there was tension at the start of what was effectively a knockout tie, Lampard’s team had done an impressive job in what was not an easy group.
MATT PHILLIPS has urged West Brom to “keep their foot on the accelerator” in the race for promotion to the Premier League.
Slaven Bilic’s Baggies have lost just once in 20 games this season.
They are at struggling Wigan tonight bidding for a seventh win on the spin and in-form winger Phillips said:
“Everyone is pushing each other every day.
“The manager is demanding, the boys are demanding of each other, and we’ll keep going.
“Nothing is done yet and we must keep our foot on the accelerator so we keep pushing forward. Throughout the week we put in the work to prepare for the game.”