Frank Lampard is convinced Chelsea have enough quality players within their ranks to make light of their lengthy injury list when they face Aston VIlla tonight.

Chelsea travel north without captain John Terry and goalkeeper Petr Cech as well as England midfielder Joe Cole and Dutch winger Arjen Robben.

The champions have conceded eight goals while Terry has been out of action with a back problem which required keyhole surgery last week.

While the England captain is now back in training, he is not expected to return to competitive action until next week at the earliest.

But Lampard believes Chelsea have enough strength in depth to cope even though coach Jose Mourinho slammed his side for their woeful defending after the shock 2-2 home draw with Fulham on Saturday.

Lampard said: "Obviously we miss Petr Cech and Joe Cole and, knowing John, he will be back before it's physically possible.

"We want them to recover as soon as possible and we hope Carlo Cudicini and Arjen Robben return sooner rather than later.

"We can't wait to have them all back again but the players coming in are more than capable of taking the responsibility.

"In the last few games it's not been easy but at Everton it was a great fightback.

"Wigan was a game we should have controlled and cruised. Against Reading we controlled it in the first-half but didn't finish them off. We need to learn the lessons from these games because we've got many important matches coming up."

Chelsea have Khalid Boulahrouz back for the trip to Villa Park after suspension but Michael Ballack is ruled out for the same reason.