Romelu Lukaku came in to score his first Premier League goal since September to keep Chelsea in the title race as the European champions came back to beat Aston Villa 3-1.
Reece James’ own goal put Villa ahead, but Jorginho quickly tied from the penalty spot in a clash between two of the many English teams affected by coronavirus cases.
Lukaku was one of Chelsea’s absentees due to a positive test for draws against Everton and Wolves last week that saw them lose ground in the title race.
But he made his comeback from the bench at halftime and made an almost instantaneous impact to lead center Callum Hudson Odoi home.
The Belgian’s career then earned a second penalty from Chelsea in injury time that Jorginho posted at home.
Thomas Tuchel’s men are tied on points with Liverpool, who have one game in hand, and are six behind Manchester City, who beat Leicester 6-3 on Boxing Day.
Villa’s own Covid outbreak saw manager Steven Gerrard forced into isolation after he tested positive on Christmas Day.
Gerrard has made quite an impression since taking office in November, but this was another lesson in the gap he has to bridge with the Premier League’s top three after losses to City and Liverpool.
The home team got off to a perfect start when James threw an effort from Matt Targett on his own goalkeeper Edouard Mendy to open the scoring in the 28th minute.
However, the lead lasted only six minutes due to Matty Cash’s rash challenge over Hudson-Odoi inside the area.
Jorginho was Chelsea’s top scorer last season despite all his goals coming from penalties and the Italian international is his team’s top scorer in all competitions thanks to nine shots from spot this season.
Lukaku will expect that to change in the coming weeks as the club’s record signing finds its form after an interrupted start to his second period at Stamford Bridge.
He has yet to start in the Premier League since sustaining an ankle injury in October, and his positive test for Covid came just as he was back in top form.
But a fit Lukaku is what Chelsea need if they want to mount a serious title challenge with meetings against Liverpool and City in January.
The former Manchester United striker took just 11 minutes to make a difference as he timed his career perfectly to find a Hudson-Odoi cross and launched a low header on Emiliano Martínez.
Chelsea should have run out of more comfortable winners as Mason Mount dragged his shot wide open after rounding out Martinez.
The Argentine then reached out to deny Hudson-Odoi at one-on-one.
But the only way Ezri Konsa was able to stop Lukaku as he made his way through Villa’s defense at the end was by knocking him down and Jorginho improved Martinez once more from the point.