The Sunday Times
March 2, 2008

Frank Lampard sent off as Chelsea soar
West Ham 0 Chelsea 4


Taciturn is as taciturn does. After his diatribe against the media
last Friday, Avram Grant was anything but exuberant about his team's
crushing victory over West Ham at Upton Park. He would give no
explanation about his decision to leave Didier Drogba on the bench
throughout, reasoning that he would not speak about players who had
not been on the pitch.

In Drogba's absence, Nicolas Anelka was the solitary striker and
performed in stark contrast with his unhappy afternoon in the Carling
Cup final when Grant inexplicably put him out on the left wing.

Chelsea's win was the more remarkable because for most of the game
they were reduced to 10 men after the sending off of Frank Lampard on
34 minutes. Challenged by Luis Boa Morte, he responded with a push.
The referee, Peter Walton, had a short discussion with his lines-man,
then rather surprisingly showed Lampard the red card.

Neither manager seemed convinced. West Ham's Alan Curbishley said: "As
they both got up, I think Frank pushed him. Sometimes you look at that
and hope common sense might prevail, but the referee looked at it and
decided to send him off. A soft one, I think."

Grant's view was that the decision was given from some 20 yards away.
"I didn't see it," he said, but understood the offence was "a slap in
the face of Boa Morte. If so, then it's a red card - if the assistant
referee is right."

Before his departure, Lampard had made a significant contribution to
his team's success. After 17 minutes, following Anton Ferdinand's rash
foul on Salomon Kalou, Lampard calmly put away the penalty. On 22
minutes, it was his cross from the left that gave Michael Ballack,
completely unmarked, the chance to crash home a right-footed goal and
Chelsea's third.

The previous week, West Ham fans were induced to criticise their team
for being too defensive at Fulham. Here against Chelsea, West Ham were
scarcely defensive at all. Their marking and tackling were simply
abysmal. "You could argue," admitted Curbishley, "that we should have
got people closer to them." Indeed you could.

West Ham's back four was disastrously porous, and they were hardly
helped by their midfield. Chelsea could have gone ahead in the second
minute when a Lampard free kick was met by the head of John Terry,
pushed away by Robert Green, then knocked into the net by Anelka, who
was given offside.

Three minutes after the penalty, Chelsea doubled their lead,
exploiting a West Ham defence that was distracted to a degree. Anelka,
out on the left, where he is perfectly happy to wander when stationed
in the middle, sent across a ball that Joe Cole swept past Green.

Cole also played a crucial role in Chelsea's fourth goal against a
team that could not press home its numerical advantage. After 64
minutes, Kalou neatly set up Joe Cole. His shot was beaten out by
Green, only for it to come to Ash-ley Cole, who steered his shot into
the far corner of the goal. With the exception of Terry's clearance
off the line, West Ham's 11 scarcely threatened Chelsea's 10.

Curbishley seemed to be whistling in the dark when he asserted: "I
thought the first half was quite even in terms of possession . . .
when you're playing against the top three or four sides and you go
down quickly, it's a long way to come back." The ineptitude and
fallibility of the West Ham defence, coupled with Chelsea's direct,
quick, intelligent football made it inevitable that goals would be
scored. "The game got away from us in five minutes," said Curbishley.
"I don't think Joe Cole will hit [another] one like that with his left
foot."

Asked whether he thought Chelsea still had a chance of the title,
Grant responded: "I think that we're in the title race all the time.
We used our chances in the first half, and then we had some more in
the second half playing with one man short, but we played very clever,
and they didn't create one chance." Grant had somehow forgotten
Terry's glorious overhead clearance off the line from Carlton Cole.

It was surprising to see West Ham take Carlton Cole off the field
after 65 minutes, substituting him with Bobby Zamora, who was plainly
not yet match fit, and keeping on Dean Ashton, a half-time substitute,
who is still plainly seeking for form.

As for Chelsea, you could not help thinking that with this kind of
form, they could have swept Spurs aside at Wembley. Whether Grant has
decided that Drogba and Anelka cannot play together and must always
play separately, remains to be seen. At present Chelsea have an
embarrassment of riches.

Match stats

Player ratings: West Ham: Green 6, Neill 5, Ferdinand 5, Upson 6,
McCartney 5, Faubert 6 (Solano 66min), Mullins 6, Noble 7, Ljungberg
6, Boa Morte 6 (Ashton ht, 6), C Cole 6 (Zamora 65min)
Chelsea: Cech 6, Ferreria 6, Carvalho 7, Terry 8, A Cole 6, J Cole 7
(Essien 69min), Makelele 6 (Alex 84min), Ballack 7, Lampard 6, Kalou 7
(Malouda 75min), Anelka 7 Star man: John Terry (Chelsea)
Yellow cards: Chelsea: Terry, Ballack Red card: Chelsea: Lampard
Referee: P Walton Attendance: 34,969
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Telegraph:

Chelsea attempt to entertain at Upton Park
By Roy Collins at Upton Park

West Ham United (0) Chelsea (3) 4

The Football Association are considering preventing the undignified
sight of referees being baited by a posse of players during a match by
banning anyone but team captains from even talking to officials.

In Chelsea's case, it would do nothing to clean up their act since
captain John Terry is possibly the worst offender in the Premier
League. His berating of referee Peter Walton, as well as one of his
assistants, after Frank Lampard's dismissal for pushing Luis Boa
Morte, was another disgraceful addition to his crime sheet, with
Walton unable to restart the game for a few minutes.

Having said that, Terry was faultless and outstanding on the field of
play, as were the whole Chelsea team in a performance that finally put
some flesh on manager Avram Grant's promise to turn them into a team
of entertainers. It was also vindication of Grant's managerial
credentials after the abuse and criticism he suffered after the
Carling Cup final defeat last week.

The Carling Cup may have gone, but Chelsea are still in a couple of
little cup competitions called the FA Cup and Champions League and, on
the basis of this win and another slip-up by Arsenal, they are right
back in the title mix. They even looked like Arsenal at times.

Grant partly responded to his critics by putting Nicolas Anelka in a
more familiar central role, rather than out on the left wing, where he
played against Spurs at Wembley, and also restored Joe Cole and
Michael Ballack to the starting line-up. Displaying plenty of courage,
considering the pressure he was under to get a victory, he left Didier
Drogba on the bench and kept Shaun Wright-Phillips out of the squad
altogether as he shuffled his resources with Wednesday's Champions
League tie against Olympiakos in mind.

Perhaps he knew just how woeful West Ham were, a side who have built a
reputation for defensive competence this season with the best record
outside the top four. Here, though, they did not even think to bolt
the stable door after the horse had bolted, with Chelsea still
knocking the ball around and creating the better chances when down to
10 men.

West Ham manager Alan Curbishley was right when he said: "It probably
sounds mad but I thought the first half was fairly even in terms of
possession and play." Right, that is, to admit it was mad since
Chelsea took the Hammers apart with three goals in six first-half
minutes, having already had a perfectly good effort by Anelka ruled
out for offside.

Lampard, who so enjoys the warm-hearted applause he gets from West Ham
fans after his long years of service here, slotted home the first from
the penalty spot after Anton Ferdinand had brought down Salomon Kalou.
There was then much snogging of the club badge, just to let the home
fans know that they were not the only ones capable of a wind-up.

Joe Cole scored a second from outside the box and then Ballack, who
had set that one up, plundered one himself after a cross by Kalou.
Just over 20 minutes gone and some West Ham fans were already leaving,
one or two questioning the goalkeeping of Robert Green, the man who
has 'England's number four' on his gloves, which might be a bit
optimistic on this showing.

Once Lampard was sent off, one would have expected a cavalry charge
from West Ham, but, on the one occasion they beat Petr Cech with a
fine chip from Carlton Cole, Terry showed his determination to keep a
clean sheet by running back and clearing the ball off the line.

Curbishley thought the Lampard sending off was harsh, saying: "You
look at those situations sometimes and hope common sense will
prevail," though Grant was upset more that the call for the red card,
as with the penalty given against Chelsea at Wembley, came not from
the referee but an assistant. Grant said: "The assistant said that
Frank slapped Boa Morte's face and, if he did, then that is a red
card. But I don't know. I haven't asked Frank yet."

It is doubtful whether West Ham could have scored had Chelsea had
another couple of players sent off. The final insult was delivered by
Ashley Cole, also restored to the side, who opened his account for the
Blues after namesake Joe's shot was pushed out by Green. It was his
first goal for three years, though he celebrated as if he had never
scored before.

Chelsea may appeal against Lampard's sending off, though after what
happened to Middlesbrough's Jeremie Aliadiere, who got an extra game
tacked on for a "frivolous" appeal, they may think better of it. A
fourth game for Lampard would see him missing the game against Arsenal
at the Bridge at the end of this month. That is a match that no
Chelsea player will want to miss.

Opta ratings

West Ham United: Green 6, Neill 7, Ferdinand 6, Upson 7, McCartney 7,
Faubert 5 (Solano 4), Mullins 6, Noble 8, Ljungberg 4, Boa Morte 4
(Ashton 5), Cole 6 (Zamora 3)
Possession 54 per cent, offsides 2, shots on target 3, shots off
target 4, corners 6, fouls conceded 14, yellow cards 0, red cards 0
Chelsea: Cech 7, Ferreira 7, Carvalho 7, Terry 7 [y], A Cole 8, J Cole
8 (Essien 6), Makelele 6 (Alex 5), Ballack 7, Lampard 7 [red card],
Kalou 7 (Malouda 4), Anelka 7
Possession 46 per cent, offsides 3, shots on target 8, shots off
target 5, corners 1, fouls conceded 8, yellow cards 2, red cards 1
Best moment: The fantastic goal-line clearance by John Terry from
Carlton Cole's chip over goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Worst moment: Terry and team-mates Michael Ballack and Salomon Kalou
baiting referee Peter Walton after he sent off Frank Lampard. Only a
booking for Ballack broke it up.
Referee: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire).
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Indy:

West Ham Utd 0 Chelsea 4: Lampard off but old boys back to haunt Hammers

Grant has last laugh as new-look Chelsea storm to simple victory

By Ronald Atkin at Upton Park
Sunday, 2 March 2008

Avram Grant, take a bow. The lugubrious Israeli does not do
exultation, at least not in public, but his Chelsea team indulged in
plenty of cavorting on his behalf, carving apart West Ham despite the
first-half dismissal of Frank Lampard. After the miseries of last
Sunday's Carling Cup final, it was a bounce-back of boomerang
proportions.

There had been confident pre-match talk from West Ham sources about
deepening Chelsea's unhappiness but in the end it was simply another
Hammer horror show to add to Chelsea's impressive statistics against
them: six wins in a row now, 17 scored and three conceded. Three goals
had been clocked up by the 22nd minute, and a possible fourth by
Nicolas Anelka in the first 25 seconds ruled out for offside, before
West Ham keeper Robert Green actually managed to save a shot. And,
even against 10 men, there was no way back from that for the home
side.

Despite the shot and shell following his team selections for Wembley,
Grant stuck his head above the parapet again and made six changes for
this game. Didier Drogba never got off the bench, Michael Essien only
came on late, Joe and Ashley Cole, Salomon Kalou and Michael Ballack
were on from the start this time and Anelka, entrusted with the front
running after last week's nightmare, was a constant threat. It all
worked a treat. As ever, Grant was close-mouthed about the reasons for
his selections. "I give respect to all in the squad" was how he put
it.

The West Ham manager Alan Curbishley said it all: "They've put
themselves back in the race, shown everybody it was a one-off last
week. They have a massively strong, talented squad." The irony was
that West Ham found themselves three down despite having had more of
the game.

After Anelka's offside, they might have had three themselves. Carlton
Cole was halted in the act of pulling the trigger by a well-timed
Ricardo Carvalho tackle, Petr Cech twice dived to thwart Fredrik
Ljungberg dashes and the keeper pulled off a blinding save from Mark
Noble.

At the other end, everything went in. Anton Ferdinand precipitated the
collapse by fouling Kalou as he surged past. "It was a poor penalty to
give away," said Curbishley. "Anton got it wrong." Lampard,
resoundingly booed as a former West Ham employee, tucked it away.
Three minutes later there was more to boo about as another former
Hammer, Joe Cole, collected Anelka's short pass to fire left-footed
into the corner.

It became three goals in five minutes when Lampard rolled the ball
invitingly across the edge of the penalty area and Ballack brilliantly
accepted the invitation with a half-volley.

In the 34th minute came the sending-off incident. Luis Boa Morte was
adjudged to have fouled Lampard and as the pair climbed back to their
feet on the fringe of the Chelsea penalty zone Lampard pushed his
opponent in the chest with both hands. When his attention was drawn to
this by a linesman, referee Peter Walton sparked the loudest home
cheer of the afternoon by flourishing the red card.

Grant tartly observed that it was the second game in succession that
the referee had needed an assistant's intervention to give a decision
against his team, but once more Curbishley spoke more eloquently for
the brotherhood of managership: "With things like that, you think
common sense might prevail." At half-time West Ham opted for the
thunderball approach, replacing Boa Morte with Dean Ashton. They
deserved a goal, and would have had one but for John Terry's
acrobatics. Carlton Cole's lob evaded Cech's outstretched arms but the
Chelsea captain's overhead kick on the goalline denied them.

While that miss was being mourned, Kalou slipped Joe Cole clear and
though Green turned the shot aside it was straight to the other Cole,
Ashley, who netted from a sharp angle. The dismayed home fans would
have agreed with Curbishley's summation: "We got it wrong today."
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Observer:

All-change Chelsea coast with 10 men


Duncan Castles at Upton Park
Sunday March 2, 2008
The Observer


'Wait with the knife,' implored Avram Grant in the wake of last
Sunday's League Cup final debacle against Tottenham. Another London
club answered his call yesterday, West Ham United not so much
providing the critics with another blade for the Chelsea manager as
plunging one into themselves in disorganised, hot-headed capitulation.
Though Frank Lampard suffered a first-half sending-off at the ground
that abuses him above all others, Chelsea were by that point three
beautifully taken goals to the good and in little danger of conceding
to a West Ham side whose intended attacking diamond was devoid of
lustre and edge.

Grant's first Premier League victory since January keeps his team
nominally in contention for the title and may go some way to easing
the concerns of Roman Abramovich as the owner spent the weekend in
Russia on electoral duties. Whether it will reassure the Israeli's
players of his abilities as a top-tier manager, however, is a moot
point.
Be it rotation or reaction, Grant didn't just alter his cup final
team, he threw it in the dustbin and started from scratch. Didier
Drogba, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Wayne Bridge, Juliano Belletti
and Shaun Wright-Phillips were all dropped. The formation, at least,
remained the same - 4-3-3 - though with Anelka as the attacking point
rather than the former untouchable, Drogba.

From the French striker came an almost immediate finish, albeit it one
that fell victim to a linesman's flag. Lampard's free-kick was met by
John Terry, posing a now unusual threat in the opposition area. Robert
Green got hands to the defender's downward header but only to push it
in the direction of Anelka, who strode on to finish from a position
that was arguably illegal.

If that represented a promising start - Chelsea's dominance of set
pieces has all but evaporated since José Mourinho's dismissal - their
football soon showed signs of slipping into the long-ball drudgery
that Grant once claimed he had banned, yet which so blemished their
Wembley outing. Petr Cech again kicked regularly long to a bemused
Anelka; the full-backs oft copied him.

Sunday's excuse that Spurs' two forwards prevented Chelsea from
building from the back was not available here, Alan Curbishley
choosing to line his attack up in a diamond that placed Luis Boa Morte
well behind the centre-forward, Carlton Cole. Neither, though, was
there much threat from West Ham. For all Upton Park bayed , their
first quarter-hour produced little more than a penalty-box scramble
and a Julien Faubert header that looped gently on to the roof of
Cech's net.

If such creation looked sparse at that point, it was to appear far
worse in the wake of a five-minute spell in which every shot Chelsea
aimed at goal found the net. The first was due entirely to Anton
Ferdinand. Charging into the area at speed, Salomon Kalou touched the
ball so far ahead of himself it seemed unrecoverable until Ferdinand
came careering across to bundle the Ivorian over.

It was not so much a soft penalty as a stupid one. Ignoring the home
fans' dietary advice, Lampard walked confidently up, awaited Green's
dive, and placed the spot kick in the opposite corner.

Next to strike was Joe Cole, quite exquisitely, as he watched Anelka's
clever pass all the way across the area and sent it sweetly into the
far corner. As if inspired by the precision, Michael Ballack hit a
right-foot volley into the opposite corner after Lampard spotted
another opening in the defence.

Less intelligent was the midfielder's treatment of Boa Morte on a rare
foray into Chelsea territory. Pressing the forward from behind,
Lampard ended up collapsed on top of the Portuguese, who responded by
kicking out a leg. When Boa Morte attempted to rise, Lampard shoved
him to the ground once more in an action the linesman deemed worthy of
a red card. Ballack disagreed, seeing yellow for instigating another
ruck.

Needless to say, the home support loved watching their most detested
former player take the long walk. As he exited one Upton Park regular
lunged across on crutches to abuse the midfielder. Less satisfying was
their team's response. Mark Noble stretched Cech and Ballack with shot
and cross, and Joe Cole might have won a penalty as Ricardo Carvalho
grabbed handfuls of his shirt, but it was Anelka and Joe Cole who came
closest to delivering the next goal.

Dean Ashton came on after the interval, the home side belatedly began
to exert some consistent pressure, and they would have scored had
Terry not raced backwards to clear Carlton Cole's chipped finish off
the goal-line. Instead, Chelsea added another as Joe Cole drew a save
from Green that Ashley Cole screwed back between the posts from an
acute angle. Knife withdrawn from Grant... at least until Wednesday.

Man of the match: Joe Cole

Chelsea's most creative player since Avram Grant's promotion to
manager, Cole underlined the strangeness of his omission from League
Cup final XI. Scorer of one goal, creator of another, the winger's
dancing hyperactivity drew a stadium-round ovation.

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

Pete May, Author, Hammers in the Heart You have to give Curbishley
credit for getting us to 10th with all the injuries we've had, but
we're a bit worried about things fizzling out now we have 40 points,
like his Charlton teams used to. Our defence all had a bad game, with
Ferdinand losing out to Anelka in the air all the time. We started
with two strikers who have scored three this season so perhaps it's
time to give Ashton and Zamora a few games, and Freddie Sears may be
worth a run. We could have done without Lampard touching his badge
after he scored, but the biggest cheer was for his sending-off. Our
players weren't booed off at the end - everyone had left.

Fan's player ratings Green 5; Neill 4, Ferdinand 4, Upson 5, McCartney
4; Noble 6, Mullins 4; Faubert (Solano n/a) 4, Boa Morte 4 (Ashton 6),
Ljungberg 5; Cole 5 (Zamora n/a)

Trizia Fiorellino, Chair, Chelsea Supporters' Group West Ham were
shocking, but we wanted to win and prove something after last week
and, although we were quite surprised when we heard about the six
changes, particularly leaving Drogba out, it worked out fine. We've
given up trying to second-guess Grant because there seems no rhyme nor
reason to his choices, and that's part of the reason we haven't taken
to him. Joe Cole was excellent, though. He and Lampard are always good
against West Ham, but this was Cole's best game of the season and
Lampard stuck his penalty away after missing against them last season.
If he'd stayed on we could have had six or seven.

Fan's player ratings Cech 8; Ferreira 8, Carvalho 9, Terry 8, A Cole
7; Makelele 8 (Alex n/a); Ballack 8 Lampard 7; Kalou 6 (Malouda n/a),
Anelka 8, J Cole 9 (Essien 6)
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Mail:

All smiles as Chelsea show their solidarity for Grant
West Ham 0 Chelsea 4

By Malcolm Folley
Didier Drogba, wearing a beanie and gloves, appeared on the pitch only
after Chelsea's impressive work was concluded yesterday. Yet it was a
cameo rich in significance.

After the anaemic performance Chelsea produced against Tottenham in
the Carling Cup Final, Drogba was one of six players to be culled for
this critical assignment on the other side of London.

After a week of unflattering stories leaking from Stamford Bridge —
offering tales of player unrest with senior management figures such as
assistant Henk ten Cate and a gathering mistrust of the leadership of
Avram Grant — how would Drogba react to being made redundant?

His response at the final whistle, after Chelsea had played with 10
men for 56 minutes following Frank Lampard's first-half dismissal, was
a very public illustration of dressing room unity. Drogba shook hands
with his team-mates and warmly applauded those Chelsea fans left as
the sole occupants of Upton Park.

The importance of this result and the scale of Chelsea's defiance may
not manifest itself until the end of the season. But there was a sense
that events unfolding in East London yesterday amounted to the
resurrection of Chelsea's threat to the prominence of Arsenal and
Manchester United at the summit of the Premier League.

Chelsea captain John Terry admitted as much when he said: 'We could
have allowed ourselves to dwell on last week's result, but we didn't.
We had to forget it.

"We had our talk last week, but the things that were discussed will
stay private with the players.

"It was up to me, Lamps and Didier to get the players going again and
I think we showed that today. We have stayed positive and confidence
is high after this result."

Grant, who perhaps unwisely ended months of cautiously dull
appearances in front of the media by berating his critics on the eve
of this game, watched the mayhem unfold with no little satisfaction.
He demanded that he should be afforded greater respect.

Of course, Grant's abiding difficulty is that he is cursed with
stepping into the limelight vacated by the departure of Jose Mourinho.

Only Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger manage with the same
theatrical command.

Grant's outburst only succeeded in making himself sound petulant. Yet
yesterday, his team spoke for him with an eloquence that had been
muted at Wembley. And three of the players he omitted from the cup
final, Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole, scored at Upton
Park.

Furthermore, this result was accomplished despite losing Lampard in
the 34th minute of his return to his old manor.

The England midfielder was involved in a scuffle on the ground with
Luis Boa Morte. Once back on his feet, an assistant referee judged
Lampard had pushed Boa Morte to the ground and referee Peter Walton
produced a red card.

But before his short shift was brought to an end, Lampard had done
sufficient damage to his old club where, all too predictably, the West
Ham crowd always give him remorseless abuse.

In the 16th minute, Lampard scored from the penalty spot after Anton
Ferdinand brought down Salomon Kalou.

This was the first in a three-goal storm during six memorable minutes.
Joe Cole scored with a divine left-footed shot in the 20th minute,
then Ballack arrived on the right edge of the penalty area to meet
Lampard's floated cross with a fierce half-volley.

"They were as clinical finishes as you'll see," said West Ham manager
Alan Curbishley.

"Chelsea have put themselves back in the title race with a performance
that shows what happened last week was a one-off.

"It sounds mad, but even though they scored three goals, I really
thought the first half was quite even in terms of the football.
Chelsea have a massively talented squad.

"You are talking about a side which, if you don't get it right and
find yourself three down in 20-odd minutes, that is a massive
situation to come back from. We couldn't do that."

Terry acrobatically cleared the ball from under Chelsea's crossbar in
a rare moment of menace from Carlton Cole early in the second half,
but the denouement was provided by another Cole, Ashley. Chelsea's
left-back materialised at the far post to score his first Premier
League goal for the club from an acute angle.

As a red-blooded reaction to the past week's headlines, this was a
performance to sound alarm bells in North London and Manchester. And
the sight of Drogba smiling with relish over a victory achieved
without him, told a story of its own.
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NOTW:

By ROB BEASLEY at Upton Park

THERE you go Avram. Pick the right players, play them in their proper
positions and look what happens!

Chelsea turn on the style, win at a canter, score stunning goals and
are right back in the mix.

Just what the main man Roman Abramovich wants.

Trouble is this thumping victory over one set of London rivals only
served to underline how badly wrong boss Grant got it against Spurs
last weekend.

For three of Chelsea's goals at Upton Park — the best three goals —
all came from players he had left out at Wembley.

Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole scored screamers as Chelsea
suddenly looked like world-beaters again.

The Blues certainly answered all the critics and doubters with an
awesome show of class.

The writing was on the wall in the second minute when Nicolas Anelka
knocked in the rebound after Robert Green could only parry John
Terry's header.

Referee Peter Walton ruled it out for offside. It wasn't. But it didn't matter.

On 17 minutes Anton Ferdinand was outpaced by Salomon Kalou and
tripped him in the box.

Only one man was ever going to take the penalty — Frank Lampard.

Super Frank or Fat Frank, depending on your allegiance, duly sent
Green the wrong way in retaliation for all the boos and jibes he
suffers at Upton Park.

His celebrations were in marked contrast to those of Joe Cole, who
barely acknowledged his left-foot strike three minutes later.

But the celebrations were in full flow again as Chelsea capped a
devastating five-minute burst with the third.

This time the swaggering Lampard was the creator as his audacious pass
with the outside of his foot allowed Ballack to effortlessly
half-volley home.

Harsh

Lampard was pumping, maybe too pumped.

And when he and Luis Boa Morte tangled on the edge of the Chelsea box
in the 35th minute he was a little over-zealous and pushed the Hammers
midfielder to the floor.

West Ham fans bayed for action but Walton's straight red looked a
little harsh. Chelsea boss Grant said the referee's version was that
Lampard had "slapped the face of Boa Morte".

He added: "If that's true then it was a red card — but I didn't see it
and haven't asked Frank yet."

Luckily for Chelsea it made no difference whatsoever.

The Hammers were hapless even against 10 men and in the 64th minute
they conceded a fourth.

Joe Cole's shot was parried by the over-worked Green and Ashley Cole
slotted home his first Chelsea goal from the narrowest of angles.

West Ham were truly woeful.

Mark Noble had a first-half drive tipped over by Petr Cech.

And on the hour Carlton Cole's clever lob over Cech was acrobatically
cleared off the line by Terry.

But that was it.

Chelsea are back in business with a bang after last Sunday's Carling
Cup disaster against Spurs.

And right back in the title chase after wobbly Arsenal's stumble at
home to Villa.

Grant's men now sit seven points behind the leaders with a game in
hand and with both the Gunners and Manchester United still to visit
the fortress that is Stamford Bridge.

The League Cup may have been surrendered without even a whimper but
clearly the Blues are ready to battle all the way for the League. West
Ham boss Alan Curbishley certainly thinks so.

He said: "That performance showed everyone it was a one-off last week
and they are now back to their best. Chelsea are certainly back in the
race."

Blues skipper Terry added: "That is the perfect message to send out.

"I think that's some of the best football we have played this year —
and it tells everyone everything's OK at Chelsea."
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