Now, will Carlo be as bold next Saturday?

THIRTY-TWO games into the season and almost 10 months since he was appointed, Carlo Ancelotti has stumbled upon the tactical switch that could win him the title and help him emerge from the shadow of Jose Mourinho.

The Italian has been under intense pressure at Stamford Bridge ever since the Special One came back home earlier this month and was seen to win the tactical battle as his Inter Milan side knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League.

But on Saturday it was Ancelotti who proved that he has the tactical nous to win trophies in England.

Chelsea’s 7-1 victory over Aston Villa was breathtaking, thrilling and ruthless. But, more importantly, it was achieved thanks to a change in team formation that could prove to be the key to Chelsea’s hopes of ending the season with silverware.

Frank Lampard earned almost all of the headlines following an outstanding display that saw him score four times to become the third-highest goalscorer in Chelsea history on 151 goals, ahead of Peter Osgood and Roy Bentley.

But look a little deeper into why Lampard was able to perform so effectively deep into a season in which he has often failed to hit top form and you will find some interesting answers.

First, there is the emergence of Florent Malouda as a key creative influence for Chelsea from the left-hand side of the field, playing in a 4-3-3 formation instead of Ancelotti’s previously favoured 4-4-2.

The Frenchman is now giving Chelsea what they have been missing for so long and that is a bit of adventure, a bit of magic, an ability to beat a player and cause panic in an opposition defence.

He scored twice for the second time in a week and also had a hand in three more of Chelsea’s goals against a hapless Villa side who had no idea how to contain him.

It was Malouda whose fiercely-struck cross into the danger zone allowed Lampard to slide in and put Chelsea 1-0 up after 15 minutes; Malouda whose neat touch allowed Yury Zhirkov to win a penalty for Lampard’s second after Villa had equalised through John Carew. And it was Malouda whose cross helped set up the midfielder’s fourth and final goal in injury time.

Add in a sweeping left-foot volley from Zhirkov’s cross for Chelsea’s third and also a glorious, curling right-foot finish for number five and you can see just what an influence the revitalised winger had on the match – a great credit to Ancelotti because previous managers at Stamford Bridge have all failed to get the best out of player who clearly has remarkable talent.

The only goals he cannot claim to have played a part in are Lampard’s hat-trick strike, another penalty won by Zhirkov after the left-back was brought down by Richard Dunne, and Salomon Kalou’s excellent finish that made it 6-1.

Villa manager Martin O’Neill, whose ambitions of taking his team to fourth place are left in tatters, admitted he will have to find a way of coping with the Frenchman when the two teams meet again in the FA Cup semi-final in a fortnight.

But neither Lampard or Malouda would have enjoyed this match half as much if it had not been for Ancelotti’s tactical tweaking that involved leaving Michael Ballack on the bench and selecting Deco in a more attacking formation.

With Deco pulling the strings from deep, protected by the presence of Mikel behind him, Lampard was able to maraud forward and provide the goal threat he is so famous for.

Malouda and Joe Cole then added width, with Anelka playing central – although you suspect Didier Drogba will almost certainly take that role as his own once fully recovered from a knee injury that kept him on the bench on Saturday.

The temptation to team Drogba and Anelka together in attack, of course, is a compelling one but, looking back on the season now perhaps it is no coincidence, that Chelsea were so impressive in January when Drogba was away at the African Nations Cup, an absence that forced Ancelotti into giving up on his two-up-front policy.

The result? Chelsea scored 19 goals in the month, including a 7-2 demolition of Sunderland, while a rampant Lampard scored five times in five games.

The return of Drogba since then has confirmed the Ivorian as one of the world’s great strikers – he has scored 11 times and matched Wayne Rooney goal for goal in the race for the Golden Boot; but it has also seen Anelka’s form drop and Chelsea develop a tendency to wobble.

The big question now, of course, is whether Ancelotti will be brave enough to continue his new-look formation when Chelsea, including fit-again Drogba, go to Old Trafford on Saturday for a match that will go a long way to deciding the title.

It could be the biggest decision of the season.

MATCH RATING: ***** – A thrilling performance from Chelsea, full of goals, incident and action, and an outstanding contribution from Lampard.

REFEREE: Peter Walton (Northants) 6 – Made some basic errors and at least one of the penalties was dubious but at least he allowed the game to flow