west ham 4-1

Sunday Times

Didier Drogba scores twice to return Chelsea to top of Premier League table

Chelsea 4 West Ham 1

Jonathan Northcroft at Stamford Bridge

CHELSEA fans sang “One England captain” and saw this derby win as another chapter in the story of John Terry’s rehabilitation. But there is a better, more unlikely comeback at Stamford Bridge. When an Italian manager with an aversion to wingers arrived last summer and a rival left-sided attacker was his only major signing, there were probably players more confident about life under Carlo Ancelotti than Florent Malouda. But who, Wayne Rooney apart, is playing better? In Chelsea’s push for the title Malouda, unexpectedly, is their Factor X.

Adapted by Ancelotti into a multi-purpose footballer, the Frenchman is deployed centrally or on the flank, in midfield or the forward line, and even as emergency left-back. Yesterday Malouda was the blue arrow directed straight at the heart of West Ham’s greatest weakness. Jonathan Spector, despite several years in English football, remains as gauche as an American college kid and Araujo Ilan, selected, surprisingly, because Gianfranco Zola thought he would track back, took his responsibilities theoretically. Malouda had the run of his flank and, back as a winger, repeatedly punctured Zola’s side with his piercing runs and pinpoint crosses.

“I think that was the best performance of Malouda,” Ancelotti said. “I hope he will play like that on Tuesday [against Inter Milan].” Even Jose Mourinho can’t be cocky about facing Malouda on such form, though Inter’s brilliant right-back, Maicon, is unlikely to be as haunted as Spector.
Didier Drogba and Malouda were an emerging combination in their younger days at Guingamp and their understanding remains intact. Drogba’s second goal, converted from close range after keeper Robert Green spilt Frank Lampard’s shot, came after his compadre was substituted, leaving to a standing ovation. Drogba’s first — the game’s key strike — resulted from lovely Malouda work. Malouda also assisted in Alex’s opener and was classily responsible for Chelsea’s other goal.

Terry was hymned for his part in that crucial first Drogba goal, which came during West Ham’s best period. After a torrid opening 25 minutes when they were fortunate to be only a goal behind, West Ham equalised through a gorgeous volley from Scott Parker and were looking comfortable. Then Terry made a break from defence to carry possession deep into opposition territory and he found Drogba, who played it wide. Malouda’s sweet centre gave Drogba a simple header for 2-1.

Later, when the Frenchmen reconnected, the game was over. Malouda collected Drogba’s canny knockdown 30 yards out and advanced, calmly checked inside Danny Gabbidon on the edge of the box and finished expertly for 3-1. In the 15th minute Malouda’s cross had teed up Alex for 1-0.

Worrying for England was the vulnerability to crosses of a defence featuring Green and Matthew Upson. Another hit Upson’s thigh and ricocheted off West Ham’s bar, another still was headed into the side netting by Drogba and just before Malouda went off he centred for Lampard to hit a post. Green did look like Gordon Banks once, when he danced swiftly along his line and launched himself full length to tip away Alex’s header from a cross by Branislav Ivanovic. Yuri Zhirkov, Ancelotti’s big summer signing, came on alongside Joe Cole but Chelsea did not need fresh artillery. West Ham had already been blitzed.

Zola said he dropped Carlton Cole because the striker had missed training in the week due to sore knees but it still seemed a strange decision, especially when Cole came on for a cameo that carried more menace than Zola’s three starting attackers, Ilan, Kieron Dyer and Mido, had managed combined. With goalkeepers Hilario and Petr Cech unlikely to recover from injuries, Ross Turnbull will probably remain in goal for Chelsea against Inter. To guess how he might do is impossible because, as Ancelotti agreed, Turnbull was barely tested here.

Star man: Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Yellow card: West Ham: Mido

Referee: M Clattenburg Attendance: 41,755

Chelsea: Turnbull 6, Ferreira 6, Terry 7, Alex 7, Ivanovic 6 (Zhirkov 80min), Malouda 9 (Kalou 87min), Lampard 6, Mikel 6, Ballack 6, Drogba 8, Anelka 5 (J Cole 66min)

West Ham: Green 6, Gabbidon 5, Upson 6, Spector 4, Daprela 6, Parker 7, Kovac 5, Dyer 4 (Cole 68min), Behrami 5, Ilan 4 (Diamanti 84min), Mido 5 (Stanislas 68min)


-------------------------------------------------

Telegraph:

Chelsea 4 West Ham United 1

By Duncan White at Stamford Bridge

They are welcoming back their old heroes to Stamford Bridge this week, although welcoming might not be the right word. Gianfranco Zola left the stadium he used to thrill with his side ruthless humbled by a Chelsea team that returned to the top of the league.
Next, Jose Mourinho and his Internazionale team: that will prove a more rigorous examination than this, surely.

Chelsea were inspired by a superb Florent Malouda, who made the first two goals and scored the third. The France international was back playing in his favoured role on the left wing, having deputised for the suspended Michael Ballack in midfield against Stoke City last weekend. He destroyed Jonathan Spector, the West Ham United right back, and Zola was even forced to switch Valon Behrami from the left to the right to try and help deal with him. It didn’t work.
The initial mistake for the opening goal came when Spector’s loose pass was intercepted by Paulo Ferreira, who put Malouda clear down the left. Spector recovered to tackle but conceded the corner. Malouda took it and West Ham could only half-clear, Frank Lampard working the ball back out to the left so Malouda could have a second bite at the cross. This time he picked out Alex, who, despite being 6”3 and built like a heavyweight, had managed to completely elude West Ham’s somnolent markers to place his header past Rob Green.

With Malouda rampant it looked like Chelsea would ease away from West Ham before the excellent Scott Parker intervened. Kieran Dyer hurled the ball in from the left – it was comical foul throw – and got it just over the head of John Obi Mikel. Parker took it on his chest, let it bounce and lashed a shot with fade and power into the top corner. Ross Turnbull, making his first league start in the Chelsea goal, had barely got his hands on the ball and there he was picking it out of the net.

Aside from that, West Ham struggled to build coherent attacking moves. Zola had ill-advisedly chosen to change his whole front line, playing Dyer on the left, Ilan on the right and Mido up front. Dyer is a shadow of his former self, Mido still looks like he could lose more weight and Ilan might politely be described as enigmatic – the enigma being how he ever managed to win three caps for Brazil. Ilan’s only real contribution was swiping a complete sitter of the bar with the game still scoreless.

“The reason I changed my strikers is that I wanted to play a more counter-attacking game and needed quick players,” Zola said of the inclusion of Dyer and Ilan. The exclusion of Carlton Cole, no doubt to his great frustration with Fabio Capello watching, was explained by Zola as being down to a knee injury that had allowed him to train just twice last week.

His namesake, Joe, was also left on the bench and then tried too hard when he finally did get on the pitch. Joe Cole needs unhurried game time if he is to get back to his best and at his rate he is not going to get it. Game by game his World Cup hopes grow fainter.

He certainly won’t be getting in the side ahead of Malouda, not on this form. The crucial second goal, which Zola conceded ended West Ham’s resistance, was again made by the Frenchman, 10 minutes into the second half. John Terry came surging forward from the back and drew in Spector and Behrami, which allowed Drogba to work the ball to the free Malouda. Drogba then peeled off the back of Matthew Upson to find the space to head in Malouda’s fine cross.
Pumped up by the goal, Drogba was in full histrionic mode, exchanging words with the Chelsea bench and nagging incessantly at referee Mark Clattenburg. Annoying as he is in this mood, it is often when he plays his best stuff and Upson was struggling to deal with him. For Chelsea’s third he chested the ball down to Malouda, who cut inside Danny Gabbidon – far too easily – and shot low past Green from outside the box.

Malouda was withdrawn late on, to allow the crowd the chance to give him a standing ovation. “It was his best performance for us,” Ancelotti said. “I hope he will play on Tuesday like he played today.” Chelsea still had time to prove they could score without him.

Frank Lampard sprinted at the West Ham defence and was allowed a sight of goal by Upson’s unfortunate stumble – flashback to Egypt’s goal 10 days ago – and while his shot lacked menace, Green contrived to spill it at Drogba’s feet. The Ivorian slammed the ball into the empty net for his 27th goal of another productive season. Not exactly convincing from the England goalkeeper and first reserve centre back, though.

For Chelsea this was an important appetiser ahead of Tuesday’s main course. It helped them flush that 4-2 defeat against Manchester City out of their system and, with Internazionale contriving to lose 3-1 against Catania in Sicily on Friday night, they will welcome Mourinho back to Stamford Bridge with confidence.


--------------------------------------------------

NOTW:

FLORENT AND THE MACHINE HAVE GOT THE LOVE

Chelsea 4 West Ham 1

By Andy Dunn

THE LOVE is back at Chelsea. Carlo kissed Franco, like those Italian blokes do, Didier left the field arm-in-arm with Mark. Clattenburg, that is. As in the referee who normally has only himself to love.
No snarling, bicep-flexing, armband- pointing defiance from John Terry. Just a friendly smile and a warm embrace for the myriad Chelsea old boys who had played the role of pleasant but deferential guests.
With love all around, no wonder a Frenchman took centre-stage.
Florent Malouda took to the padded stool in Sky's Champions League studio in midweek, dispensing punditry with laid-back confidence, incisiveness and accuracy.
Just as he dispensed his football here.
Amidst the confetti of controversy that has fluttered around Stamford Bridge this season, Malouda has quietly flourished.
Considering England's long-standing travails on the left flank, it is galling to think this guy cannot get near France's team.
Under Carlo Ancelotti he has, when selected, become a consistent achiever. And there were not many who thought that when he sashayed into Stamford Bridge back in 2007 and duly contributed two goals and one assist in his first season.
Yesterday, he gift-wrapped the opener for Alex, the second for Drogba - who later completed this casual conquest of a compliant West Ham - and collected the third himself.
He was quite comfortably the most accomplished player on an unaccomplished pitch.
But not as predictably tenacious as Scott Parker, whose first-half equaliser gave West Ham brief hope.
Yet tenacity was never going to be enough for this West Ham line-up.
A line-up, it has to be said, that showed little tenacity of selection from a coach revered in these parts.
You could interpret Franco Zola's decisions kindly or cruelly.
Either it was a brutal response to the home defeat by Bolton... or he was treating this contest as, putting it diplomatically, experimental.
His rotation certainly didn't find favour with Carlton Cole, who sat on the bench with a face longer than Kauto Star's.
No doubt Fabio Capello was equally glum. He came to watch a couple of Coles and found them sitting almost next to him.
Ancelotti said on Friday that he was '100 per cent certain' Joe Cole would sign a new contract. With whom is not clear.
If the Italian continues to keep Cole in adidas bubble-wrap, it is unlikely to be Chelsea. Potloads of dough or not.
But at least Joe Cole's failure to make the starting 11 was predictable. Carlton Cole's demotion was baffling. Play for England one day, replaced by Mido the next.
Zola's post-match explanation was wholly unconvincing.
And with now-familiar uncertainty sprinkled across Chelsea's back four - and with stage fright stalking the third-choice keeper - no wonder Cole was ticked off.
He certainly would have backed himself to do better than Araujo Ilan, who hit the girders from 10 yards out, after Mido and Radoslav Kovac had spun Paulo Ferreira into a single ball of confusion. If Chelsea collect honours with this disparate collection at the back, it will be some achievement.
While Terry's form has been - despite the worthy protests of support from inside the Bridge - indifferent, he does have to cope with an onerous task.
And that it is to bind together a defence that has been holed beneath the waterline by injuries to the two first-choice full-backs.
Tunnel vision has always been the key to Terry's dominance. Now he needs peripheral vision.
And eyes in the back of his head.
Ross Turnbull might have been fumble-free on his first Premier League start for Chelsea but his positioning was suspect when Parker thumped a volleyed equaliser from 25 yards.
And Jon Obi Mikel's slipshod streak of form - he was abysmal against Manchester City - continues and his attempted interception was pitiful.
At the moment, Mikel is more poodle than guard dog.
His mistake knocked Chelsea out of a canter which had been started by Alex's towering header and Malouda's towering self-belief.
He is one of the main reasons why Joe Cole kicks his heels for most of Saturday afternoons.
Once flighty, he is now reliable. Once infuriating, he is now incisive.
It might have been a catalogue of West Ham errors that created the space for Malouda to pick out Alex but the Frenchman did it with understated finesse.
Just as he did when Chelsea regained the lead early in the second half.
It was Terry who led the charge, careering into West Ham territory like a Toyota Prius.
When defenders finally applied the brakes, the ball squirted to Malouda who picked out Drogba's run with the steady nerve of an engraver.
A good cross is one that turns a chance into a formality. Both of Malouda's crosses did exactly that. For simplicity and economy of effort, they were exemplary. Joe Cole might take note. He got half an hour but hardly made an entry into Capello's mental notebook.
And was ignored when Malouda drifted inside some woeful West Ham defending.
With good reason.
Malouda manufactured some room with considerable ease and then hit a strike of surgical precision to beat the blameless Robert Green.
In fact, Green's full-stretch stops from Frank Lampard and Alex might have only bolstered Capello's estimation of the West Ham keeper had it not been for a slight blunder that allowed an alert Drogba to tap in his 27th of the season.
Green clearly believed he could smother Lampard's reasonably hit strike and chose that option instead of pushing it to safety.
The ball wriggled free of his grasp and Drogba pounced with unbridled enthusiasm, the tap-in allowing him to smooch and make up with Clattenburg as they strolled off.
The pair had fallen out after Clattenburg saw nothing illegal about Matthew Upson's clumsy challenge inches outside the penalty area.
Drogba's reaction was a magnificent throwback to the halcyon days of epic tantrums. Like an eel thrown on to rocks, he pulled off that electrical wriggle, fist-pounded the turf and then pointed at the ref all the way back to the halfway line.
It took the intervention of Terry - the voice of reason and calm in Chelsea ranks - to somehow prevent Clattenburg from taking action.
Either that or he was star-struck. And that couldn't be the case, could it?
Whatever, it was almost uplifting to see a glimpse of the hysterics of old. Maybe Drogba has just been that bit too nice recently.
It was certainly an amusing diversion from a match that became mundane in its inevitability of outcome.
No matter how much Zola tried to justify his selection, he knows there are battles that can be more realistically won.
Just, as you suspect, Roy Hodgson will know today at Old Trafford.
Which is why this title race will go to the wire. Which is why Chelsea's game at Old Trafford could well decide its destiny.
Make a note of the date. April 3.
And you can guarantee there will be no love-in on that day.

-----------------------------------------------

Mail:

Chelsea 4 West Ham 1:
Didier Drogba hits a double to send Blues back to the summit

By Rob Draper

Chelsea may have gone back to the top of the Premier League with this victory but in the coming weeks they face challenges that will define their season and success, or otherwise, of manager Carlo Ancelotti.
Inter Milan loom large on Tuesday and Manchester United are on the horizon, too.
Yet none of the those tests will be as straightforward as the win over West Ham, a team who would be relegation certainties if the League was not so bereft of quality in the lower reaches.
Ancelotti greeted his Italian counterpart at West Ham, Gianfranco Zola, with a continental kiss. It set the tone for West Ham's challenge: amicable and unthreatening.
A spectacular strike from Scott Parker rallied the team of Zola, the returning hero of Stamford Bridge.
And it may even have had some Chelsea stalwarts a mite concerned in view of how their team imploded here against Manchester City.
But there was little tension in the air and few would have feared that Chelsea would not regain top spot.
West Ham were lightweight, starting with a forward line that had mustered one Premier League goal between them this season and the side displayed little of the desire expected of teams in their position.
'Every match we play at the moment can decide our future,' said Ancelotti.
'We had a bad day against Manchester City and it was important after that defeat to have a good reaction.'
Zola stressed the positives, as he saw them.
'Until their second goal we were playing well, keeping control,' he said.
'Until that we had a chance. My team worked hard and didn't deserve the result.'
In his defence, managing the Hammers is a devil of a job.
Zola's vice-chairman, Karren Brady, used her newspaper column to discuss her manager's potential future employment and the best endorsement she could muster was: 'I don't have a crystal ball so I can't say what will happen.'
But Zola did little to enhance his long-term prospects. He said Carlton Cole was left out because of a knee problem which curtails his training and Alessandro Diamanti was likewise confined to the bench in favour of a counter attacking 4-5-1 formation.
But if Kieron Dyer and Araujo Ilan possessed the pace Zola was attempting to use, they hid it well.
Ilan had the best chance of rattling Chelsea's confidence. Eight yards out on 15 minutes, with scarcely a defender within arms' reach, the Brazilian snatched at his shot and sent it into the stand.
Within 60 seconds of that miss, West Ham were made to pay. They cleared a Florent Malouda corner but no one closed down the winger and he provided another cross for unmarked Alex to head home.
West Ham's defending was so poor that further calamities seemed inevitable. It was, therefore, a shock when they equalised on 30 minutes.
The build-up included a comical foul throw from Dyer: foot off the ground and the arc of the ball never behind his head. It would have shamed a six-year-old schoolboy.
John Obi Mikel ought to have cleared but allowed the ball to drop for former Chelsea man Parker, who chested it down and hit a spectacular half-volley from 30 yards past Ross Turnbull.
No blame could be attached to the stand-in keeper; the shot would have beaten the world's best.
Normal service was resumed in the 56th minute when John Terry played in Malouda, who sent a cross towards the far post. There lurked Drogba, unmarked, to nod the ball in.
Any semblance of a contest ended on 77 minutes when Malouda scored.
Drogba knocked down a long ball for the Frenchman, who attacked space as debutant Fabio Daprela backed off. He turned inside a defender and struck the third. '
This was Malouda's best performance,' said Ancelotti. 'I hope he plays like that on Tuesday.'
There was even time for Lampard to strike a post from three yards but he atoned in the 90th minute with a powerful shot which Green spilled, spoiling an otherwise impressive display in front of Fabio Capello. Drogba was on hand to strike his second of the afternoon and complete a routine, but satisfying, afternoon for Chelsea.

---------------------------------------------------

Independent:

Malouda hammers home Zola's frailties

Chelsea 4 West Ham United 1: Chelsea top the Premier League again after making light work of London rivals who are fast going down the tube

By Steve Tongue at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea, it is clear, are in better shape than Internazionale ahead of Jose Mourinho's return here on Tuesday. After the Serie A leaders had crumbled in Sicily on Friday night, Carlo Ancelotti's team recovered from a brief and unexpected stumble against their rivals from along the District Line; a route which, like West Ham's back-line, was not operational yesterday. In doing so they regained the League leadership, having played the same number of games as Manchester United, who will be expected to beat Fulham this afternoon to keep the pot boiling nicely.
Fielding a third-choice goalkeeper in Ross Turnbull mattered not a jot, so rarely did the visitors test him, even if they should have taken the lead early on and later managed to draw level for almost half an hour.
A team that have scored 12 goals in 15 away games and not won one since the opening day of the season could hardly afford to spurn a gift like the one offered to Araujo Ilan, a striker preferred to Carlton Cole, along with the Premier League's cheapest footballer, the £1,000-a-week Mido.
One former Chelsea player, Scott Parker, did play from the start and was outstanding. Even he had to cede the game's individual honours, however, to the home team's Florent Malouda, whose form this season has been a revelation, as well as having the incidental effect of damaging Joe Cole's World Cup prospects. Cole was given the last 25 minutes at Nicolas Anelka's expense but can hardly expect to start on Tuesday. By that stage of the game, Ancelotti was already thinking of conserving some players' energy with substitutions and offering those like Cole and Salomon Kalou a trot. "We played a good match," said Chelsea's manager, who met talk of the special one's return to his former kingdom with a typically down-to-earth dismissal: "I am a normal man. This is Roman Abramovich's kingdom."
Mourinho will need to do better than another local hero, Gianfranco Zola, who hoped to surprise Chelsea with speedy counter-attacks. When Ilan, a Brazilian striker on loan from St Etienne, passed up a glorious chance in the 11th minute, it seemed unlikely that the visitors would be blessed with a better one all afternoon and so it proved. Mido's aggressive persistence at the byline forced the opportunity, hustling Paulo Ferreira off the ball, which he then laid back for Ilan, who hoofed it high over the bar.
Chelsea had already threatened from a series of corners and duly took the lead within four more minutes. John Terry, ritually abused by his fellow Eastenders in the West Ham section, laid a pass to Malouda, whose cross was headed in by the unmarked Alex. It was therefore all the more unexpected that the visitors were next to score. Kieron Dyer – yes, him – took a throw-in that eluded John Obi Mikel, enabling Parker to chest it down and sent a spectacular volley dipping over the helpless Turnbull.
Robert Green kept them level until 10 minutes into the second half with saves from Frank Lampard and Ferreira, but was then betrayed by his defence again. They failed to stop Terry leading a charge, allowing Didier Drogba to set up Malouda for another perfect cross that the Ivorian headed in from a yard out under no challenge.
Malouda deserved a goal himself and was appropriately rewarded with quarter of an hour to play, turning inside a defender on to his favoured left foot after Drogba headed down to him. Lampard hit a post, Green made one fine save from another Alex header, then failed to hold Lampard's low shot, Drogba following up for a tap-in.
West Ham, after a couple of wins had propelled them to the heights of 13th place, have now lost three in a row and go to Arsenal next. The weakness at both ends of the pitch is alarming, the only consolation being how many other poor teams are down there with them. Zola was happy to talk about Chelsea instead, suggesting: "I think they have an advantage on Inter. They have to score only one goal. It will be tough but I'd give a slight advantage to Chelsea."

Attendance: 41,755
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Man of the match: Malouda
Match rating: 6/10

--------------------------------------------------

Observer:

Florent Malouda ends fine display with goal as Chelsea regain top spot

Chelsea 4 Alex 16, Drogba 56, Malouda 77, Drogba 90 West Ham United 1 Parker 30

Amy Lawrence at Stamford Bridge

Three days before the man himself returns to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea put on a performance that was classic Mourinho. There was no great need to exert themselves and, against a pedestrian West Ham side, they plucked the three points necessary to regain position at the top of the Premier League table.
They were even able to tweak their goal difference without sweating too much. No need to tell Carlo Ancelotti, but you-know-who would have been proud. Not that José Mourinho can afford to be quite so thrilled about his current charges because Internazionale lost 3-1 at Catania last night, are shedding an increasing number of players to injury and suspension, and have actually won fewer league games than West Ham in recent weeks. Ancelotti has the air of a man feeling calm before the storm.
With the exception of Florent Malouda, whose contribution shone in terms of vigour and finesse, Chelsea were a couple of gears below the levels they will require against Inter in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Not that there will be any complaints about a comfortable win after a month that threw up domestic defeats by Everton and Manchester City. "It was important to have a reaction and we have come back in the right way," Ancelotti pointed out. "We want to maintain our determination and concentration now because every game can decide our future."
Florent Malouda was at his best against West Ham, with the winger causing West Ham all sorts of problems down the Chelsea left. Malouda chipped in with two assists to go alongside his goal, and also hit the post in an impressive all-round display. It was a calm afternoon for Ross Turnbull, the third-choice goalkeeper who is almost certain to play against Inter in what will be only his fourth appearance for Chelsea. If Ancelotti was hoping for the reserve's understudy to get his eye in and warm up his gloves before the spotlight intensifies, the truth was, it wasn't until stoppage time that he pulled off a genuine save, parrying well from Radoslav Kovac.
Mind you, much of his underemployment was down to West Ham, who scored a spectacular goal Turnbull could not get near to, but, otherwise, fluffed their lines. Araújo Ilan ought to have given them the lead in the 12th minute, but the Brazilian blazed a rasping shot over the crossbar.
Three minutes later, Chelsea were in front. Malouda picked out Alex with a fizzing cross and the centre-half hung high in the air to thump in a header from close range. Chelsea had barely stopped celebrating when they were pummelling Robert Green's goal again. Matthew Upson's touch was panicked and he had his keeper to thank for preventing an own goal.
West Ham's response was as enthralling as you could expect from a team whose attacking focal point, Mido, strained to break into a walking pace. So it came as a shuddering thunderbolt when Scott Parker gathered possession in midfield and belted the ball with beautiful ferocity and dip into the top corner from 25 yards out. The equaliser crowned an energetic display by the ex-Chelsea man, who last scored in the Premier League more than a year ago.
Ten minutes after half-time, Chelsea profited from an incisive break sparked by a bullish run by John Terry and helped on by a touch from their best player, Malouda. The Frenchman's cross again laid it on a plate for a team-mate and Didier Drogba was the grateful recipient, nodding in from close range.
Gianfranco Zola was disappointed with the strategic mistakes made when his players got drawn out of position because of Terry's run. "That goal was a big blow," he said. "We lost our shape. But Chelsea really punish you when you make mistakes."
Malouda scored the goal his performance deserved in the 75th minute, with a fine strike, sidestepping his marker before drilling past Green. Ancelotti enthused that it was as good a game as he has seen the winger produce. Drogba was not bad, either, and snaffled Chelsea's fourth in the last minute of the match, capitalising on a loose touch from the West Ham keeper.
Zola believes Chelsea have the edge for their tussle with Inter. "It will be tough because they are playing against a good side and a manager who knows Chelsea well and will be preparing counter measures. It will be very close, but I give a very small advantage to Chelsea."

-----------------------------------------------------