Chelsea manager Frank Lampard concedes he was ‘frustrated’ and ‘worried’ by his team’s poor finishing against Aston Villa.
Chelsea controlled the game at Villa Park but they found themselves behind at the break after Kortney Hause scored a goal from close range after a free-kick.
Lampard played a new-look front three of Olivier Giroud, Willian and Ruben Loftus-Cheek but the club improved significantly the moment Christian Pulisic and Ross Barkley entered the game.
Pulisic struck first to level the match, before Giroud’s deflected strike gave Chelsea the much needed three points just moments later and they are now ahead of Manchester United with 5 points.
It was a valuable victory for the Blues but Lampard said he’s worried by the club’s failure to make the most of chances when they are on top.
‘I was frustrated at half-time, without a doubt,’ said Lampard. ‘I was worried that it gave them an opportunity to be solid against us and to break on us.
Mourinho aims dig at Fernandes over United’s penalty claim in Spurs draw
Frank Lampard trials Loftus-Cheek in new position ahead of Chelsea return
‘We had to keep doing well what we did in the first half. To keep doing it, not to get bored. We had to keep going down the sides. We got down the right hand side a lot in the game and eventually we got a goal from it.
‘We expected that [to dominate the game], with the greatest respect to Villa. The way we’ve been training, the way we move the ball the things we try to do to get to the 18-yard box we did pretty well but sometimes there’s little areas around the edge of the box where we can do better.
‘Hopefully that will improve. but that’s been the story of our season. it was nothing new today to play well, concede and have to fight our way to victory. We haven’t always got victory and that’s the next stage for us, to try and be more clinical for the moments when we’re on top.’
Chelsea signed RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner last week with the hope of ending their poor finishing in front of goal.
