21/12/2002  Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 0

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.