Torres breaks goal duck as Blues crush hapless Hammers

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Chelsea 3-0 West Ham United

Saturday 23 April 2011 - Stamford Bridge

Fernando Torres scored his first Chelsea goal as the Blues continued their pursuit of Manchester United with a 3-0 demolition of West Ham.

Frank Lampard opened the scoring on the verge of half-time against his former team when he finished off a flowing Chelsea move with a composed finish, before substitute Torres curled home his first goal for the club with a fine turn and strike beyond Hammers goalkeeper Rob Green to seal the victory with six minutes remaining.

And Torres then supplied the pass which truly killed off ex-Chelsea manager Avram Grant's side, as the visitors conceded a third goal when Florent Malouda superbly rifled home from the edge of the area to reduce Manchester United's lead at the top of the Premier League to six points after the Red Devils had earlier anxiously laboured to a slim victory over in-form Everton at Old Trafford.

The result has massive implications at both ends of the table, with this demolition leaving West Ham adrift at the foot of the table. Chelsea, meanwhile, moved three points clear of third-placed Arsenal - who travel to face a Bolton Wanderers side looking to avenge their drubbing in the FA Cup semi-final against Stoke last weekend. But with Torres finally breaking his goalscoring duck and the Blues in magnificent shape heading into the home straight, there is certainly life left in this Premier League title race still.

On a day where glorious Spring sunshine was exchanged for an Indian summer monsoon, the vociferous Chelsea cheers were as audible as the fierce cracks of thunder, and flashes of lightning saw Stamford Bridge turned into a dramatic amphitheatre as the Blues sought to continue to tread on Sir Alex Ferguson's side's coattails. Though the sudden change in weather certainly did its best to disrupt the play thanks to a near-waterlogged pitch, Carlo Ancelotti's in-form side were exuding confidence and belief and a nearly-unchanged side - Branislav Ivanovic the only change, in place of Paulo Ferreira - were taking the game to West Ham early on.

They might have had an early lead had Florent Malouda been more clinical in front of goal when in a one-on-one scenario, but Malouda dallied and the chance was gone. Rob Green had done well to come out and smother the Frenchman's attempted effort, and he was certainly the busier of the two goalkeepers in the opening exchanges. Didier Drogba then looked to curl one home by Green judged the pitch of the ball perfectly and cleanly grasped the shot gratefully, but with the pitch saturated, a controlled first touch made making the perfect through-ball seem a simple task - and the ball occasionally being caught in the Stamford Bridge quagmire meant some passes were held up in mud, with others zipping along the turf, and Malouda and Salomon Kalou both saw chances evaporate as the ball danced off the turf and evaded their control.

On a difficult day for goalkeepers, Petr Cech was to excel at the opposite end of the pitch as West Ham looked to respond to Chelsea's early dominance of the game.

With the ball skipping deviously off of the turf and devilishly difficult to grasp, Cech perhaps made the right decision to push a Carlton Cole piledriver over his bar as the former Chelsea man tried to press the issue, and the resulting corner was a fruitless one as the Czech effortlessly grasped the inswinging delivery. A far less 'routine' save soon followed, though, as Cech superbly threw himself to his left to deny Jonathan Spector's diving header with a strong left hand.

The Chelsea keeper then kept out Freddy Sears' goalwards flick with a smart low save as Chelsea duly acknowledged the warning shot with devastating consequences. After being cleaned out by Cech, David Luiz showed no ill-effects of a collision with the Chelsea keeper's elbow with some superb defending out wide, and he slipped the ball into the path of Mikel, who in turn found Cole. A super one-two with Didier Drogba saw Cole burst through and cut back to Lampard, who lashed home his 11th goal of the season with gusto - in front of the West Ham supporters as well!

The second half saw Chelsea come out with renewed vigour but West Ham were still particularly troublesome opponents from set pieces - this time Manuel da Costa was denied by John Mikel Obi on the line, before body blows to each side saw both Mark Noble and Michael Essien withdraw from the action because of injury. The pitch had played its part in both injuries as the waterlogged surface contributed to awkward falls for both players onto the sodden turf. Both received hearty applause.

Chances then came thick and fast for both sides. Lampard should have scored from eight yards after great play by Drogba, who again was enjoying another superb performance under the Stamford Bridge floodlights, before David Luiz caressed a superb effort from distance against the woodwork. From that shot West Ham countered through substitute Keane, and Cech had to be on his toes to first palm away an effort from Demba Ba and then collect a tamely-struck shot from Keane himself as the ex-Tottenham man shot straight at the keeper after cutting inside Ivanovic.

At the other end Lampard forced a smart low stop from Green before Malouda toe-poked the follow-up into the side netting. An evenly contested match soon changed however as Ancelotti brought on both Nicolas Anelka and Fernando Torres to devastating effect. The two had shown good understanding immediately after Torres' arrival with a handful of impressive performances together up top, and the pair showed poise and purpose here as Torres slipped the ball through to Anelka, who beat the onrushing Green with his effort but not Danny Gabbidon; the Welshman heading the ball away from danger in brilliant fashion.

The next combination between the two was to be the killing blow, as Anelka played Torres through. The Matthew Harding End held its breath as Torres burst through. Just as the ball held up in the turf as el Nino looked to round Green, the Spaniard checked inside and sumptuously slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Stamford Bridge erupted, Carlo Ancelotti was elated and the entire Chelsea team ran the length of the pitch to celebrate a long-overdue strike. With that particular monkey off his back, Torres sprang to life. Instantly looking a yard sharper, he then carded an assist as he passed to the edge of the area, looking for Anelka. Instead the Frenchman dummied, allowing Malouda to hammer the ball into the top corner with aplomb from 20 yards for his 14th goal of a productive season.

3-0 was no doubt harsh on West Ham who had matched the Blues in terms of efforts on goal, but it was a tail of clinical finishing at one end and superb goalkeeping at the other - Cech's wonder save from Spector's diving header the difference; that save forming the basis of a strong, professional Chelsea performance. Three points keeps the heat on United and puts pressure on Arsenal to respond at Bolton on Sunday. Chelsea have nothing to lose at this stage, and whilst they may not yet lift any trophies this season, there is one thing they have won - or rather won back.

Pride.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry ©, Cole; Essien (Benayoun 56), Mikel, Lampard; Kalou (Anelka 69), Drogba (Torres 75), Malouda.

Goals Lampard, Torres, Malouda. West Ham (4-3-3): Green ©; Jacobsen, Da Costa, Gabbidon, Bridge; Noble (Keane 59), Hitzlsperger, Sears (Obinna 81); Spector, Cole (Piquionne 78), Ba.

The TalkChelsea.net man of the match was Chelsea's number 12, John Mikel Obi - involved in everything good about the Blues, Mikel's defensive steel and discipline was matched by his contribution going forwards, as seen in his role in Lampard's opener.

[BluesChick 1,260]

Thanks Alex! I was unable to find the match on TV here and we were out all day looking at neighborhoods, so I wasn't able to watch. Sounds like an exciting match and awesome to read about Torres's goal.

[Tomo 21,681]

good review, was a bit nervous when 1 nil, nearly had a heart attack when Keane has that chance but good performance all in all despite the horrendous conditions. 1 goal and 1 assist (should have been 2) for El Nino in 15 minutes, say no more.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Thanks for reading, guys Kerry, have you seen the goals? If not...

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/chelsea-west-ham-motd-9127057/

[Madmax 9,219]

I danced shirtless around the telly when Torres scored

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I was driving, so doing the same wouldn't have been prudent

[Peace. 4,352]

Agreed on the MOTM. He was instrumental in our victory in my opinion. His passing game was almost perfect (95 succesfull passes out of 104). Though he was caught out of position two or three times, but he was more involved in the attack, he provided some lovely passes (which should have been turned into assists, ie when he passed the ball to Kalou in the box).

Good report.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Sexay :eyebrows: Report

[Milan 17,835]

No doubt this was Nando's afternoon, as every Chelsea fan talks about nothing but him scoring etc, which is fully understandale! However there was one man who did stunningly well once again - Petr is without any doubt our player of the year.

I loved the way the players celebrated Nando's goal, I loved Carlo's smile while he was watching those celebrations and I loved the fans going mental after the goal and jumping and singing Nando's chant for 10 minutes.

Oh and I loved how the fat bastard Lampard scored against his old club, right in front of those fans.

[eldo 868]

No doubt this was Nando's afternoon, as every Chelsea fan talks about nothing but him scoring etc, which is fully understandale! However there was one man who did stunningly well once again - Petr is without any doubt our player of the year.

[J.F. 1,484]

agree for Mikel. mikel to us is like maka was to real, amazing and under appreciated

[chrismada9 1,948]

Very well written once again Alex! Was soo psyched when I saw Torres scoring for us! Hope he scores a lot more now :blue scalf:

[HRiver 1,512]

Great report mate, as usual.

I went absolutely mental after Torres scored.

[Tomo 21,681]

agree for Mikel. mikel to us is like maka was to real, amazing and under appreciated

Mikel will be a great player for us in years to come, although i did think he was caught Out of position a few times yestoday his passing as usual was spot on.

[Shane 2,275]

Nice report mate, One thing though, the game was on Saturday the 23rd, Not Wednesday the 20th

[pHaRaOn 2,131]

mikel to us is like maka was to real, amazing and under appreciated

Excellent comparison :goodpost:

[Peace. 4,352]

Mikel will be a great player for us in years to come, although i did think he was caught Out of position a few times yestoday his passing as usual was spot on.

Yes he did. But he was more involved in the attack and I don't know if you noticed, at times him and Essien were switching their place. We can't have the cake and eat it (not sure of the expression). ^^

[HRiver 1,512]

John Mikel is a great midfielder, he is so underrated. His passing is impressive and he helps both our midfield and defence. Footballers who perform on the same area on the pitch as Mikel are usually never appreciated because they're not noticed much. Shame that most of the time it's only the attackers who score goals that are mentioned, or wingers who do one trick during the whole 90 minutes.

Once Ramires returns, our midfield should definitely be Lampard - Mikel - Ramires

Am I the only one who thinks that Frank is gradually returning to the old Super Frank since that Man United game?