Chelsea leapfrogged Tottenham into third place in the Premier League after goals from Frank Lampard and Eden Hazard gave the Blues a convincing 2-0 win over West Ham.
Hazard was the star of the show for the hosts, pulling the strings and netting a superbly-worked second goal to seal the three points.
However, the day belonged to veteran Lampard after he brought up his 200th goal for the club.
The England midfielder is now just two goals short of Bobby Tambling's all-time Chelsea scoring record.
The scoreline flattered the visitors, who but for some awful finishing from Demba Ba and some brilliant goalkeeping from Jussi Jaaskelainen would have been on the receiving end of a thumping.
Fernando Torres and captain John Terry both started and found the net in Thursday’s Europa League last-16 secong-leg victory over Steaua Bucharest, but the pair both found themselves on the bench.
Torres’ replacement Ba should have broken the deadlock in the early stages against his old club but fired six yards wide with just Jaaskelainen to beat.
Lampard, though, nodded in Hazard’s cross in the 19th minute to set Chelsea on their way.
The visitors had the ball in the net four minutes later but Andy Carroll’s strike was ruled out after the giant forward was adjudged to have shoved David Luiz.
Ba wasted two more one-on-ones with Jaaskelainen before the break but five minutes after the restart Hazard doubled Chelsea's lead.
The Belgian exchanged passes with Juan Mata on the edge of the area and weaved his way through West Ham’s defence before brilliantly firing past Jaaskelainen with his weaker left foot.
Finnish stopper Jaaskelainen again did magnificently to keep out Mata when the Spaniard had raced through on goal, while Hazard was denied a second when Joey O’Brien blocked the playmaker's close-range effort.
Hammers sub Carlton Cole forced keeper Petr Cech into a rare save, while Lampard missed a decent chance to net his 201st goal when he blazed over with five minutes remaining.
The Blues now lead fourth-placed Spurs by a point with a game in hand in the race for a Champions League qualifying place after the north Londoners' shock 1-0 loss at home to Fulham.
At the other end of the table, Sam Allardyce's Hammers are seven points off the drop zone.
~Metro » Football | Metro UK~Read more... http://www.chelseamashup.com
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