Match Report: Chelsea 7 - 1 Aston Villa

A first-half brace from Frank Lampard gave Chelsea the advantage against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea went ahead in the 15th minute when Frank Lampard converted a low cross from Florent Malouda at the far post. But in-form John Carew grabbed his ninth goal in eight games when he finished off a curling cross from Ashley Young.

Lampard restored Chelsea's lead from the penalty spot in the 44th minute after Yury Zhirkov had been brought down by James Collins.

Chelsea started brightly enough with Deco finding Anelka inside the Villa penalty area in the third minute.

But the France international shot into the arms of Brad Friedel at his near post.

Drogba, who scored twice in the 5-0 midweek demolition of Portsmouth, was rested according to assistant coach Ray Wilkins.

Frank Lampard tried to surprise Friedel in the 14th minute with a low drive from fully 30 yards but the American goalkeeper was untroubled by the bounce.

But Chelsea went ahead a minute later when Florent Malouda's low cross was turned home at the far post by Lampard.

It was the England midfielder's 18th goal of the season in all competitions.

Villa's Stephen Warnock required treatment to a head injury after a collision with Joe Cole in the 23rd minute.

Controversy erupted in the 27th minute when John Obi Mikel appeared to elbow with James Milner.

But referee Peter Walton booked Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov for protesting about Mikel's elbow and took no action against the Chelsea midfielder.

However, Villa were jubilant in the 29th minute when they equalised through John Carew.

He converted a superb curling cross from Ashley Young at the far post to score his ninth goal in eight games.

Moments later Yury Zhirkov, who was clearly at fault for allowing Carew to ghost into space at the far post for Villa's goal, was booked for a foul on Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Deco followed his Chelsea team-mate in the book moments later for a foul on Milner in the 40th minute.

But Chelsea restored their lead in the 44th minute through a Lampard penalty.

Referee Walton adjudged Zhirkov had been fouled by Villa defender James Collins as he burst into the penalty area and Lampard converted the spot-kick with ease.

Chelsea went 3-1 up in the 57th minute when Malouda finished off a sweeping move by the hosts.

Deco's clever ball inside the full-back found Zhirkov in space and his cross was met perfectly by Malouda for the France international to score his 12th of the season.

Chelsea gave away a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the penalty area seconds later when Paulo Ferreira fouled Agbonlahor.

But Milner's effort was straight into the defensive wall to the dismay of the Villa fans.

Chelsea made Villa pay in the 62nd minute when Lampard grabbed his hat-trick, and his 20th of the season, with his second penalty of the game.

Zhirkov was again fouled, this time by Richard Dunne, and Lampard beat Friedel to become the joint third-highest scorer in the club's history.

His treble put Lampard level on 150 goals with club legends Roy Bentley and Peter Osgood.

It was a game of landmarks for the Blues with John Terry becoming the club's all-time record captain. His 325th appearance eclipsed former great Ron Harris.

In the 68th minute, rampant Chelsea made it 5-1 when Ferreira and Lampard combined to set-up Malouda for his second of the game.

In the 82nd minute Kalou sent a curling shot around Friedel's right-hand post but he found the target a minute later when he drilled the ball past Friedel from 18 yards.

Lampard then made it 7-1 with his fourth of the game in added time as Villa's 10-match unbeaten run came to a crashing halt.

Rocha Accuses Malouda

Portsmouth defender Ricardo Rocha has accused Florent Malouda of deliberately hitting him in the face and feels the Chelsea man should have been sent off for the offence.

Rocha was stretchered off during Wednesday's 5-0 defeat to Chelsea after appearing to be caught in the face by an elbow from Malouda.

Former Tottenham man Rocha was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured cheekbone, but it has been discovered he only suffered bad bruising in the incident.

"I think it was a bad one from Malouda," Rocha was quoted as saying in The Sun. "He just hit me and did not try to get the ball.

"The pain was so great I thought something was badly damaged. That is why I went to the hospital.

"These kind of actions are dangerous and it should have been a red card. But he just got a yellow."

Meanwhile, Malouda has protested his innocence and says Rocha had no problem with him after speaking to him at the end of the game.

"I went in their dressing room after the game and Rocha had just come back from the hospital," said Malouda.

"He has not broken anything and it is not as bad as it looked. He said no problem and it is OK.

"When I jumped I was only looking at the ball. I didn't mean to hurt him."

Carlo - Blues Deserve Title

Carlo Ancelotti believes his Chelsea players have no doubts about their ability to land the Premier League having topped the table for much of the campaign.

The Blues surrendered top spot to Manchester United after a recent run of two defeats and a draw in five league games and have just seven matches to reclaim pole position.

However, the Blues went some way to overcoming the lean spell, which coincided with their UEFA Champions League exit to Inter Milan, with a 5-0 thumping of Portsmouth on Wednesday.

With just one point separating Chelsea and United, Ancelotti insists the spell was merely a dip in confidence and is now vowing to lead the Blues to their first title since 2006.

"Maybe in the players' minds there were doubts, having come so close for the last few years," Ancelotti told the Daily Express.

"But we deserve to win this title. The players believe now, because we have been at the top for eight months.

"We want to get back there and stay there, to win this title. This is the time for Chelsea to win.

"We are through our bad spell now. I told the players we had to go back to basics, have confidence in our football, and do the simple things right."

The former Milan and Juventus boss has won just one league title in management, the 2004 Scudetto with the Rossoneri, but insists he is well equipped to cope with pressure at the top while predicting a typically tight finish.

"In this job there is always pressure," he added. "Every game. If you don't win, you have problems. It's the same here as in Milan.

"I lost the championship once in Italy with Juventus after being nine points clear with eight games to play in 2000.

"You think you're sure to win the title in a situation like that. The table says you'll win it - but you don't."

Game Over For Football’s Sugar Daddies

English football’s super-rich owners, including Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour, face drastic curbs on their influence under Uefa proposals.

The extent of the crackdown on “financial doping”, championed by Michel Platini, the Uefa president, is laid bare in a 60-page document seen by The Times. In it, Uefa sets out its detailed plans to force clubs towards break-even, allowing them to spend only what they earn.

Owners would be allowed to inject cash to cover losses for a transitional period, but the amounts will be restricted and closely monitored.

Over the initial three-year period of regulation up to and including 2015, owners would be allowed to cover losses totalling $45 million (about £40 million). The “acceptable deviation” from break-even would then fall to £30 million over three years and then less, with the amount to be determined.

In other words, an owner such as Sheikh Mansour would eventually be permitted to put less than £10 million a year into Manchester City on average, unless the money is spent on infrastructure or the youth team, which have no limits on investment. That compares with City’s most recent loss of £89.69 million.

While Platini has talked for months about introducing “financial fair play”, the working draft has brought those proposals into sharp focus.

The European Club Association continues to haggle with Uefa for concessions. It is arguing for a five-year accounting period, rather than three, and for owners to be allowed to invest extra funds through equity rather than debt.

Platini is determined to bring in regulations that will mark a watershed in the English game.

While the proposals will be phased in over several years, many clubs will have to make significant changes — drastic in the cases of Chelsea and City — if they are not to fall foul of the new regulations and face a possible ban from European competition.

Ashley Cole To Return For Chelsea In April - Report

Chelsea have received a huge boost with the news that Ashley Cole should be available for selection in less than a month's time, The Mirror reports.

The left-back was expected to miss the remainder of the season after sustaining an ankle injury in the Blues' defeat to Everton in February and has spent time recovering at a retreat in France.

However, the former Arsenal star is progressing far better than expected, and it is claimed that Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti expects him to be ready to face Stoke City on April 25.

This would be a huge bonus for the Londoners in their pursuit of Premier League glory, but more than that it would put Cole back in the frame for the upcoming World Cup.

Speculation has been rife as to who could fill the void on the left side of England's defence in South Africa, with Leighton Baines and Stephen Warnock the frontrunners following Wayne Bridge's international retirement.

However, if Cole can prove his fitness and form before the end of the season, Three Lions boss Fabio Capello will only have to bother about who to take as his reserve left-back.

Chelsea Must Banish Thoughts Of Being Nearly Men, Says Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti says his Chelsea players must eradicate their self-doubts to have any chance of winning the title, having grown used to being nearly men in the last three seasons.

Chelsea began Saturday afternoon's game against Aston Villa a point behind Manchester United at the top of the table having finished as runners-up in successive years and third last term since last winning the championship in 2006. Ancelotti admitted yesterday that those near misses, and their on-going frustrations regarding securing the European Cup, could be unnerving with critical games to come.

"Maybe, in their minds, there could be this thought that they keep coming so close in the Premier League and the Champions League for the last few years," said Ancelotti. "But it's better to tell ourselves that we can win this title. Chelsea haven't won the title for a long time, so we need to win it this year. We have been at the top of the table for a long time and we want to get back there and stay there now. This is the time for Chelsea to win it.

"The players know they have been at the top for eight months. For this reason they should believe they can finish as winners. Up to now I think we have deserved to win it. After the game against Portsmouth on Wednesday [a match won 5-0 to hoist the team from their stodgy recent form] there was a different atmosphere in the squad: they were more excited, more confident. We need to show against Villa that our bad period is over so that we can look forward with optimism to the United game next weekend."

Chelsea have been stripped of defensive options for Saturday’s visit of Villa – the only team still to lose in the league this calendar year – with Ricardo Carvalho having joined Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic and José Bosingwa on the sidelines. Ancelotti suggested Ivanovic could yet return from a knee injury ahead of schedule for the game at Old Trafford next Saturday and the club are hopeful that Cole will be fit enough to feature in the game against Stoke City on 25 April.

The Italian was in jovial mood despite the pressure he is under to claim silverware, joking that he had quit smoking "though only 30 minutes ago" and suggesting that, should Chelsea secure the title in May, he might consider giving up for good. "I said that once before, at Milan, when I promised myself I would give up if we won the Champions League in 2007, but I never said when [I'd quit]," he added. "I could do the same now but, again, I won't say when I'll stop. Though it's very difficult to smoke in England, no?

"I once lost a championship after being nine points clear with eight games to play when everyone thought we'd win the title. The table said we'd win it. That was with Juventus in 2000 and we ended up needing to win our last game against Perugia, but the rain was unbelievable. We waited an hour-and-a-half in between the first and second halves, and Lazio ended up winning it.

"But it's nothing to do with destiny. If you are better, you'll win the title. I am an optimist and our destiny is still in our own hands. I think that [Sir Alex] Ferguson and [Arsène] Wenger will be thinking the same thing. We'll see against Villa whether we have come out of that difficult period we've been in.

"But we've gone back to basics – playing football and defending well – and our focus is there. We have to have confidence in our play and do the basics right. Then we'll see."

Cech Has Eyes On The Title

Chelsea ace Petr Cech believes six Premier League wins out of seven could be enough to secure this season's league title.

The rare for the title is the tightest it has been in a number of years with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all separated by just two points.

Chelsea sent out a message to their two rivals on Wednesday by putting lowly Portsmouth to the sword with a 5-0 victory at Fratton Park.

There is all to play for in the final straight and Cech admits his team-mates will have to do it the hard way with a trip to Man Utd on the horizon.

"There are seven matches yet to be played in the league and I think that six victories and one draw or, of course, seven wins, would secure the championship title," Cech told his personal website.

"Out of the title contenders we are having the toughest run in. Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa are all sides chasing fourth spot and on top of that we play Manchester United at Old Trafford.

"Anyway, if we want to clinch the title, then we have to cope with it."

Cech made his first-team return in Chelsea's midweek romp and the Czech Republic ace felt no ill effects from his calf injury.

"It is fine, I did not even feel it on the soft and tough pitch," he concluded.

Chelsea Defender John Terry Believes Arsenal Can Win The Premier League

Chelsea defender John Terry has acknowledged that Arsenal cannot be discounted from the Premier League title race.

The Gunners have lost all four games they have played against the Blues and fellow title rivals Manchester United this season, but now find themselves only two points off the top spot and one point behind the Blues.

Terry admits that the resolve of Arsene Wenger's side has surprised him.

“When we beat them in November we were 11 points clear and I wrote them off," he told the London Evening Standard.

"But fair play to them, they have had a few players out with injury and have a fairly young side but they're difficult to play against when the lower teams go to the Emirates.

"It is such a big pitch and the way they play, it's difficult for the lower teams to deal with them. Against the big sides they can lose those games because there is not a big difference between the big teams at all.”

Chelsea currently sit a point behind Manchester United in the table, and after being five points clear at one point this season the England international admits that if they don't win the league Carlo Ancelotti's side will have only themselves to blame.

“We have done a bit better in the big games this season but have dropped points in games we should have won," he said.

“It's going to go right to the wire and we're looking to keep going right to the death. It is important as a group of players to focus on one game at a time.”