Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 2 - match report

Christian Benteke's opened the scoring before he was dismissed in the second half with Villa on top – joining Chelsea's Ramires after the Brazilian walked for two first-half yellow cards.

Lampard scored on the hour and won it with two minutes left to become Chelsea's club record goalscorer with 203 goals.

Chelsea were also denied a goal when referee Lee Mason missed Demba Ba's shot being cleared from behind the line by Ashley Westwood.

It meant Villa, five points above the bottom three, are still waiting to secure their Premier League future but they will be safe if Wigan lose at Arsenal on Tuesday.

Eric Lichaj replaced the injured Matt Lowton – missing from the starting line-up for the first time this season with a thigh injury.

Gary Gardner made his first appearance on the bench after eight months out with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Villa opened well with Gabby Agbonlahor and Andi Weimann threatening from the flanks as Chelsea struggled to find a rhythm.

And the hosts took the lead on 15 minutes when Yacouba Sylla found Benteke on the left and he breezed past Gary Cahill, into the area and beat Petr Cech at his near post.

It sparked Villa and Fabian Delph's rocket whistle inches wide three minutes later as Chelsea rocked.

Ramires was booked for felling Benteke as the Blues' frustration grew but Villa were indebted to Brad Guzan for keeping the scores level on 23 minutes.

Lampard lifted the ball into Ba's path but after a fine first touch the striker was denied at point blank range by the onrushing Guzan.

It was a rare moment of quality from disjointed Chelsea with Villa keeping them mainly contained.

But the reigning European Champions almost levelled on the half hour when Agbonlahor brought down Eden Hazard and Lampard's low free kick was turned onto the post by Guzan.

The Chelsea threat was growing but Villa were still dangerous on the counter attack with Agbonlahor and Benteke causing problems.

John Terry was booked for bringing down Sylla before Ramires walked for his second yellow card after a high kick on Agbonlahor a minute before the break.

And Villa looked to cash in on the extra space in the second half as Agbonlahor, Sylla and Joe Bennett all went close early on.

Chelsea, who had replaced Victor Moses with David Luis at the break, allowed Villa to dictate the tempo – but the game changed on 58 minutes.

Benteke, booked for an elbow on Cesar Azpilicueta in the first half, was sent off for a high foot on Terry and Chelsea cashed in three minutes later.

Hazard fed Lampard on the right and the midfielder checked into the area before firing high past Guzan from 16 yards.

Cole deflected Lichaj's cross just over as the game opened up and Chelsea should have been awarded a second after 71 minutes.

Cahill's shot was cleared off the line by Sylla but when Ba came in for the rebound Westwood cleared after the ball had just crossed the line.

Terry was then stretchered off moments later after falling awkwardly as the game took another twist.

Guzan palmed away Luis' free-kick with Chelsea chasing the win and then Cech saved well from Westwood.

But Lampard etched his name in Chelsea's history books in the 88th minute when he became their club record scorer, beating Bobby Tambling, when he converted Hazard's cross from close range.