Aston Villa vs Chelsea result: Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud complete comeback but Frank Lampard proves the real gamechanger

Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea: Christian Pulisic cancelled out Kortney Hause’s surprise opener before the French striker scored fewer than two minutes later to give Lampard bragging rights over former teammate John Terry

Three months ago, Chelsea’s injuries were such that Frank Lampard scarcely had the luxury of choice. He does now and distinctly different decisions fashioned a comeback that took Chelsea closer to a return to the Champions League.

One scorer represents the new, one the old. One was benched from the start, the other preferred to the top scorer. Between them, though, Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud transformed a deficit and defeat against Aston Villa into victory. Lampard, a catalyst in a turnaround, should have further fond memories of Villa Park, where he broke Chelsea’s goalscoring record. These days, he has to find indirect ways to be a match-winner but, in his 100th game as a manager, he suggested he can be a game-changer from the bench.

He eschewed orthodoxy in his choices but was swift to act. Initially omitted, Pulisic came on alongside Ross Barkley with just nine minutes of the second half gone. Six minutes later, the American had equalised. After a further two, Giroud, picked in place of the former Villa man Tammy Abraham, justified his selection with the decider.

The third contributor to a fightback was the captain. Cesar Azpilicueta is facing a challenge for his place from Reece James with the youngster’s crossing forming part of his appeal. The captain responded with a demonstration of his own prowess to set up two goals.

The first was a beautiful ball to the far post, allowing the on-rushing Pulisic to deliver the first-time finish. The second stemmed from a move involving Barkley and ended up with Giroud swivelling to beat Orjan Nyland with a shot that took a deflection off Conor Hourihane.

It rendered it a fine few days for Chelsea. Only Wolves of the contenders for third and fourth – or fifth, should that carry the carrot of Champions League football – had won, with Arsenal contriving to relegate themselves behind Crystal Palace. Chelsea’s position is improved. They are now five points clear of Manchester United with eight to play.

Villa have a different sort of relegation on their mind. Briefly, they were on course to extricate themselves from the bottom three. For a while, it was John Terry 1 Lampard 0. A centre-back had scored in a fine rearguard action. Villa’s assistant manager was presumably enjoying it rather more than his former vice-captain.

Kortney Hause’s first Premier League goal was a close-range finish that came after Douglas Luiz crossed and Kepa Arrizabalaga had blocked Anwar El Ghazi’s shot. A regular criticism of the world’s most expensive goalkeeper is that he saves too few shots: this time, when he did save one, he only pushed it out to the eventual scorer.

Christian Pulisic celebrates scoring Chelsea's equaliser (Reuters)

Hause prospered at the day job. Villa were organised and Chelsea, with the notable exception of the lively Mason Mount, struggled to break them down. Yet Lampard took decisive action early in the second half. Exit Mateo Kovacic, possibly Chelsea’s player of the season, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, making his first appearance for a year. Enter Pulisic and Barkley, Lampard’s impact substitutes.