Eidur Gudjohnsen inspired the victory over Aston Villa which cranked up
Chelsea's title challenge up a gear.
Gudjohnsen marked his recall to the starting line-up, after a month on the
bench, with the fifth goal of his stop-start season.
The Icelander, back in place of Gianfranco Zola - who was himself dropped for
the first time in three months, fired home an angled drive in the 43rd minute at
Stamford Bridge.
It was no more than Claudio Ranieri's side deserved after coming back strongly
from a shaky first two minutes, during which Olof Mellberg hit the Blues'
crossbar.
Chelsea almost scored thanks to a freak deflection off William Gallas' face -
with the ball looping onto the top of the Villa bar.
And when the Blues' second arrived, it certainly was fortuitous. Gudjohnsen's
presence distracted Peter Enckelman as Frank Lampard's cross skidded into his
net for a really soft goal in the 56th minute.
This comfortable win takes Ranieri's side - unbeaten in the Premiership for
two-and-a-half months - into Christmas in a buoyant mood
As for Villa, dumped out of the Worthington Cup by Liverpool in midweek in a
tie overshadowed by ticket chaos, their seven-month away winless streak in the
league drags on.
Zola was dropped after accepting the blame for the goal which sent his side
crashing out of the Worthington Cup against Manchester United on Wednesday.
Graham Taylor's side, who were bidding to claim their first away league win
since the success at Chelsea in May, welcomed back skipper Steve Staunton from
his ankle injury.
Villa absolutely roared out of the traps and had the Blues goal under siege
for the first two minutes.
First, Mustapha Hadji's cross picked out Lee Hendrie and Graeme Le Saux had to
block his close-range shot.
From the resulting corner, the ball fell to Mellberg at the far post and he
sent a silky half-volley smacking against the face of the Londoners' crossbar.
A fine piece of skill by Hadji almost conjured the opener after 13 minutes -
but after controlling an awkward bouncing ball and skipping round Mario Melchiot
and William Gallas, he fired across the face of goal.
Hadji was a real menace on the left flank, a fact he underlined three minutes
later when he cut inside Melchiot and sent a powerful drive whistling over the
top of Carlo Cudicini's goal.
Another marvellous piece of skill, this time from Boudewijn Zenden, earned the
Chelsea winger space to cross just before the 20-minute mark. From his delivery,
Hasselbaink - arriving at pace - headed over.
Zenden's next contribution was rather less impressive, volleying Gudjohnsen's
cross high and wide from an excellent position.
Mellberg made a quite brilliant recovery after misjudging Le Saux's long ball,
which bounced over his head. Gudjohnsen raced clear but the Villa man sprinted
back to execute a perfectly-timed sliding tackle.
Mario Stanic and Dion Dublin exchanged headers at goal as the game opened up
again.
Enckelman made his first save of the afternoon on the half-hour, parrying
Hasselbaink's free-kick.
An excellent covering tackle by Samuel robbed Lampard of a golden shooting
opportunity a minute later.
And Zenden curled a quick free-kick into the side-netting as Ranieri's men
upped the pace.
Gudjohnsen made the pressure pay when he made the breakthrough three minutes
before the interval.
The Icelander raced onto Hasselbaink's weighted lay-off and fired past
Enckelman from a narrow angle, with the ball ricocheting into the net off the
far post.
Hasselbaink flashed a shot across the face of goal just before the break.
Chelsea could have put the game beyond Villa within 90 seconds of the
restart.
Gudjohnsen turned Gareth Barry inside-out before shooting from close range -
and only a lucky deflection off Enckelman's right shoulder prevented the home
side doubling their lead.
And from the ensuing flag kick, Staunton's header deflected into Gallas' face
and onto the top of the Villa bar.
In the 55th minute, Dublin's looping header landed on the roof of Cudicini's
net.
Chelsea's second did arrive a minute later, in bizarre circumstances.
Lampard curled a diagonal cross in from the left flank, aiming for Gudjohnsen.
But the ball skidded off the wet turf, evaded Gudjohnsen and bounced beyond
Enckelman and into the far corner of his net for a very soft goal.
Cudicini parried late drives from Hadji and Allback as Chelsea held on to win
2-0.
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