After last year's run-ins with Aston Villa, which included an eight-goal thriller on Boxing Day, Frank Lampard anticipates winning today's game will be no easy task.

Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole were both shown the red card in our last meeting at the Bridge when Andriy Shevchenko twice, Michael Ballack and Alex found the net in a 4-4 draw.

Our resilience showed that day as the team came back from two-goals down, refusing to allow Villa a win, something they had already achieved on our trip to Villa Park in September 2007.

Today Chelsea face a Martin O'Neill side who are again looking strong, according to Lampard

'Villa are a good team and it has been very hard for us to get results against them,' he explained.

'Martin O'Neill is a top manager and has done a great job, and the pace they have in their team can give anyone problems.

'So it's going to be a massive game. But all the games at the moment are big, we just want to stay out there and we want to keep winning.

'But they can damage us, so we have to make sure we don't make mistakes and give them chances to break.'

Meanwhile, Felipe Scolari has backed his team to return to their effervescent domestic form after the flat performance in Europe midweek.

'My players played very well against Stoke,' he recalled. 'The game against Cluj, we did not play very well. Sometime we lost possession, we were not in good positions. We made few chances.

'Against Villa I think my team will play the same way as against Stoke. Good positions and I think we will create more chances than against Cluj.'