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Frank Lampard has supported Chelsea to emerge stronger from a “difficult period” of just one win in five Premier League games.
Olivier Giroud put Chelsea ahead at halftime against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, but Anwar El Ghazi scored to seal a 1-1 draw for the visitors.
Lampard lamented the lack of luck of a Blues team that went 17 games without a loss in all competitions before this current routine.
Praising Chelsea’s application and attitude, Lampard said: “This is our difficult period right now, and we have to fight for it and we will be stronger for it.
“The performance was good, I thought we deserved to win the game, but we don’t and we continue to go through a difficult streak.
“The attitude of the team was good, without having the last bit of quality in the last third.
“After a very good race, we had a difficult time, but tonight I saw some really good signs that I liked.”
Andreas Christensen took on Jack Grealish and was left in a heap on the grass as Villa went ahead and El Ghazi snatched the tie.
Lampard stopped short of criticizing the referees for failing to foul Grealish and did not blame Villa for continuing.
But the Chelsea manager thought there was a hand in goal preparation, insisting that the goal should have been scored in chalk.
“I think it was handball and the fourth official was very close to that, so I’m not sure why it didn’t happen,” he said.
“I have not seen it again, the clash between Grealish and Andreas. I did not think there was much in him from what I saw, but I was worried that we would have a man on the field.”
Villa’s draw kept Dean Smith’s fifth seed ahead of Chelsea, who are sixth.
Smith insisted there was nothing wrong with Villa’s goal, before congratulating his men for scoring four points from two games in just over 48 hours.
“I thought they were going to go back and book Christensen for a ride on Jack (Grealish),” Smith said.
“But they kept playing and we are glad they did, because we continued and scored the goal.
“We had to weigh what was more important, fresh legs or drive and confidence, and in my mind it was drive and confidence.”
“We have again found a good balance between defense and attack.
“The energy levels of my players were incredible, especially considering we had to play twice in 48 hours.”
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