It brings his total to 151 goals for the Blues, making him Chelsea's third-highest scorer, a feat 壯舉 on its own, but especially brilliant for a midfield player.

He heaped praise on his own team:

"The build-up to all the goals was good football - even the penalties. That football is the way we want to play, open and expansive 可擴(kuò)張的（指充分利用球場(chǎng)的空間）." Expansive means using all of the pitch area well.

Florent Malouda's two strikes and Kalou's one adding to Lampard's goals, were the icing on the cake 錦上添花, bringing the score to 7-1. The win was all the more exceptional because it was accomplished 完成了 without main frontman 前鋒 Didier Drogba, who was rested after a minor injury.

The victory made up for 彌補(bǔ)了，抵消了（遺憾） the disappointment of their Champions League exit 出局 at the hands of Inter Milan, Lampard admitted:

"We were in a bit of a rut 陷入僵局（指連接不斷地輸?shù)舯荣悾?after losing in the Champions League". A rut is a bad position that is difficult to get out of.

Although Villa made a good start, the game soon deteriorated 惡化了 into a disaster for them. Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill felt his side had thrown in the towel （成語(yǔ)）放棄了 , exclaiming:

"We stopped competing at 3-1 and that's unforgivable. We had the possibility of going 2-2 but it went 3-1 and the floodgates 防洪閘門(mén) opened.

When you say the floodgates open it means that something which was preventing from happening suddenly happens a lot. Here it means Chelsea started scoring a lot of goals.

Chelsea's success puts them second in the table, one point behind leaders Manchester United, who won 4-0 against Bolton. With only six games left in the title race, Chelsea and Man United will face each other next Saturday at Old Trafford in what promises to be a clash of the titans 諸神之戰(zhàn)，這里形容雙方的對(duì)決.

Chelsea are perfectly placed after the win to face 面對(duì) their opponents. Assistant manager Ray Wilkins was feeling confident, saying:

"It was the perfect tonic 有興奮作用的東西 before we go to Old Trafford next weekend. We fear nobody and we'll go there and play and hopefully we'll get the right result."

A tonic is something that makes you feel better.

The outcome of Saturday's match will be eagerly anticipated by fans as an indicator of who will claim the Premier League crown. Can Chelsea thwart 挫敗 Man United's drive to claim an unprecedented 史無(wú)前例的 fourth successive League title?

Only time will tell.