west ham 3-0

Independent:

Torres finally makes a splash at sodden Bridge
Chelsea 3 West Ham United 0
By Steve Tongue at stamford bridge

Amid Wagnerian scenes of thunder and lightning over west London, West Ham's best hope of salvaging something from the day turned out to be an abandonment. The unpredictable Easter weather was against them, however, like so much else, even assisting Fernando Torres to break his scoring duck at last after 732 minutes in a blue shirt. Despite a brave fight founded on a bold 4-3-3 formation, West Ham finished the game where they had begun it, at the bottom of the table.
For once they made light of missing Scott Parker, named Footballer of the Year on Friday, even after losing another midfielder, Mark Noble, to injury. The captain Matthew Upson had not been able to play and luck was absent too, two goal-bound efforts being blocked by defenders.
It did not look like a 3-0 game and nor was the gap between the sides reflected in the respective performances. But Chelsea, with the old reliables Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and John Terry to the fore, came through and stay six points behind Manchester United with four games to play – one of them at Old Trafford.
Afterwards Carlo Ancelotti was less confident of achieving his team's aim than Avram Grant of his. "We have less possibility [of the title] because we have one game less," Ancelotti admitted. "I think we stay in the League," Grant claimed, while agreeing that the area in which West Ham must improve is the conversion of chances.
There had been applause before kick-off for the former Chelsea men Parker, Carlton Cole and Grant. Less well received was Wayne Bridge, who had famously refused to shake Terry's hand before his Manchester City team played here last season. This time there was no attempt by either player to observe the courtesies.
Chelsea seemed to have decided that Bridge's partner at full-back, Lars Jacobsen, was the weak link, and it was no surprise that the opening goal materialised from that area. Half a dozen times beforehand, Ashley Cole or Florent Malouda had been played into the space behind Jacobsen. When Drogba, dropping deep, played yet another ball inside the right-back, Cole was on to it immediately, cutting back a precise pass into the path of Lampard. The West Ham old boy scored with a thump.
That curtailed an encouraging revival by West Ham after being comprehensively outplayed in the opening 20 minutes. When they finally moved forward, Demba Ba unleashed a fizzing shot from 30 yards that Petr Cech had to turn over the crossbar for one of a series of corners. Another was forced by Jonathan Spector's header after a break and cross by Freddie Sears. From the next corner Sears was able to manage nothing more than a flick, which Ashley Cole blocked on the line.
By the start of the second half, not only had a number of the floodlights gone out but the amount of water on the pitch had become a serious handicap. Michael Essien and Noble may or may not have blamed if for the injuries they suffered soon after the resumption. There were soon more powerful efforts from David Luiz, who sent a shot from 30 yards against Rob Green's crossbar, and at the other end Ba, with a drive that Cech could not hold. Manuel da Costa's header from a corner was blocked by Jon Obi Mikel, and Robbie Keane shot wastefully from 10 yards.
Torres was given 14 minutes in place of Drogba, quickly setting up another substitute, Nicolas Anelka, for a shot that Danny Gabbidon headed off the line. Given his big opportunity, he was helped when the ball held up in the wet, swinging his left foot to spark protracted celebrations on the pitch and off. Malouda's late goal only made West Ham's day more miserable. This may be the twilightof their Premier League life.

Attendance: 41,656
Referee: Phil Dowd
Man of the match: Malouda
Match rating: 7/10


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Observer:

Fernando Torres delivers for Chelsea at last to sink West Ham

Chelsea 3 Lampard 44, Torres 84, Malouda 93 West Ham United 0

Jamie Jackson at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea's late-season surge continues and, despite Manchester United still heading them by six points, part of the message from Carlo Ancelotti's side is that Fernando Torres has finally scored, and may continue to do so until the title is decided.
The Spaniard's first goal since the second of a pair scored for Liverpool against Wolves in late January suggested his sharpness has returned. On the rain-soaked Stamford Bridge turf the ball held up behind the striker but he was able to nonchalantly pirouette before delivering the sweetest of finishes with his left foot, eight minutes after coming on.
Ancelotti said: "It was an important moment for him and for all the fans who waited for Fernando to score. It was a fantastic moment and now his future will be fantastic here, [at] this club, with his team-mates. The big problem was he came in to a new club and it was not easy to find a relationship with the new team-mates and the play. But now the bad moments have gone."
Asked if the goal was a relief, Ancelotti said: "Obviously for him. He needed to score to move from this moment. The next game for him will be really better. [The finish] was good movement, a fantastic goal."
Torres told ESPN: "It was not the beginning I was expecting when I signed, but it's not easy to go in January or February. I kept working and it's thanks to all my team-mates that I scored. There's less pressure for me now – now I can enjoy it. Today the pitch was not the best [due to heavy rain] to score the goal, but football is like this."
After Florent Malouda smashed home in added time to confirm a 3-0 win that was a touch unfair on West Ham, Ancelotti was asked of his team's ability to retain their title. He said: "We have less possibility because we are one game less [as] now there are just four games [and] the gap is the same [to Manchester United]. So it will be more difficult but we have to keep trying to believe."
West Ham had begun this game rooted to the bottom, two points off 17th, which for any player in the relegation dog-fight at this juncture of the season will appear a yawning margin. Avram Grant lined his side up in a 4-3-3 that matched Ancelotti's formation, and it was Chelsea who had the best of the chances during a first half that frustrated the Italian yet ended in the best way.
Throughout the opening period Ancelotti had been waving at his side to slide balls in behind Lars Jacobsen, the visiting right-back. After 43 minutes Chelsea finally received the message, and they took the lead.
Didier Drogba, who had been the focus of most of Ancelotti's glowering but would end the contest as its best performer, twisted a pass that released Ashley Cole into a gallop. This had the visiting rearguard desperate to regain ground but before they could manage any damage limitation, the England left-back zipped over a cross that allowed Frank Lampard to bury a finish beyond Robert Green for a lead that had been coming.
First up, Malouda had raced down the inside-right channel but unloaded a shot that Green parried with his body, as Chelsea began proving that they can switch tempo when required, which has not always been true this season. When Freddie Sears hacked a clearance away the ball went straight to Malouda. He ambled a couple of steps, then smacked a pass into Drogba's feet. An instant turn allowed the Ivorian to blaze a shot at Green that skidded across the wet surface before the keeper collected.
At this point West Ham appeared to have dug in for an attritional contest in which they would defend while Chelsea came at them in waves of blue. Yet from somewhere Grant's team found their mojo. Sears sprinted from halfway and dinked over a cross that had Jonathan Spector diving into a header that forced Petr Cech into a first save.
Then, after a Mark Noble corner, Sears backheeled from close range but Cole stopped the ball on the line, and Cech gathered.
For a frantic period before Torres's intervention the drenched pitch levelled the contest as Drogba and company hurtled forward, before West Ham subsequently went close themselves.
Drogba played in Lampard but the midfielder could not finish, then the striker appeared in West Ham's area but his chested control proved too heavy. A David Luiz 20-yard drive crashed off Green's crossbar but this presaged West Ham moving into their opponents' territory as Demba Ba stung Cech's hands, then Robbie Keane – on for Mark Noble – failed to finish.
While Grant said the knee injury Noble sustained could be serious, Ancelotti was unsure about the muscle problem that caused Michael Essien's removal.
Ancelotti now has to decide whether Torres will start in Chelsea's next outing, which is next Saturday when Tottenham Hotspur are the visitors to Stamford Bridge. "Considering the performance of Didier today, considering that Fernando scored, we have to try and put both together. We have one week to train and then I will make the decision," he said.
Grant could at least console himself that Scott Parker should return immediately, after the newly crowned Football Writers' Footballer of the Year missed this one with an achilles problem.
Of West Ham's hopes of avoiding the drop Grant said: "We need to do what we need to do." Yes, and quickly.

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

TRIZIA FIORELLINO, ChelseaSupportersGroup.net
When Torres finally scored I thought the ground was going to collapse, the noise was so loud. We were pretty average and our play was pretty slow. When Lampard scored I thought the flood gates would open but it didn't happen, but it was party time all the way once Torres scored. We keep winning but I think we probably left our run two games too late.
The fan's player ratings Cech 8; Ivanovic 8, David Luiz 7, Terry 8, Cole 7; Essien 7 (Benayoun 57 7), Lampard 7, Mikel 7; Malouda 7, Drogba 9 (Torres 77 8), Kalou 6 (Anelka 70 6)

TIM CONLAN, Observer reader
I never thought we would get anything out of this game, especially when I saw the line-up, but I thought we played quite well. Grant gambled at the end with effectively four forwards and we got caught with two late goals, but I thought the scoreline flattered Chelsea. I think we could still stay up with 39 points, but it's possible rather than probable. We could do with a point at City next week.
The fan's player ratings Green 7; Jacobsen 7, Gabbidon 8, Da Costa 7, Bridge 8; Hitzlsperger 6, Noble 6 (Keane 60 5), Spector 8; Sears 8 (Obinna 82 4), Cole 7 (Piquionne 79 5), Ba 6

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Telegraph:

Chelsea 3 West Ham United 0
Oliver Brown, Stamford Bridge

The thunderclaps that reverberated over West London last night did not go unnoticed at Stamford Bridge. Fernando Torres, with a superb first goal for Chelsea at the 14th time of asking, was making a dramatic enough noise of his own.
It was the moment Chelsea’s fans feared might never happen. Torres – and yes, you have read this correctly – scored. In an instant, the record signing had restored manager Carlo Ancelotti’s faith. One pass from Nicolas Anelka and he was in, swivelling on the treacherous pitch and firing his finish beyond Robert Green on the turn. The stands erupted in almost palpable rapture.
With a gift for irony, a knot of supporters had gathered outside the stadium before kick-off, wearing T-shirts to declare: “I was there when Torres scored.” The gesture did not intimate much hope. But these jokers were proved uncannily prescient.
Torres could not have chosen a better time to start repaying the £50 million invested in him. His Chelsea team-mates were also firing up their engines.
Within six points of Manchester United after a run of results their fans have been waiting all season to see, Chelsea worked up the kind of storm that could have been heard at Old Trafford. Taking their challenge to the alleged champions-elect with a conviction of which Arsenal seem incapable, Ancelotti’s players rode their luck on a treacherous pitch but still saw out a vital victory.
Frank Lampard, determined as ever in the autumn of his career, proved the difference with an emphatic strike on the stroke of half-time. How West Ham United’s disciples, chewing their nails over relegation as a consequence of his goal, must have wished he had never forsaken E13 for SW6.
Teeming rain, scything tackles: there is never a great deal of love lost between these rivals in fair weather, and the downpours made for a combustible affair. Florent Malouda, for all his slaloming movement, captured Chelsea’s initially tentative finishing. Racing on to Salomon Kalou’s flick in the third minute, he ghosted past Manuel da Costa with aplomb but could only fluff a shot straight at the feet of Robert Green.
As the rain sluiced down upon the Stamford Bridge turf, so the tackles began to fly. Thomas Hitzlsperger was rightly booked for a cynical late trip on Kalou, as his team-mates toiled to make any incursions into the Chelsea half. For Didier Drogba, desperate to regain some confidence at the end of a ragged season, the conditions left him a bystander, watching the ball skid out of his reach.
At least Malouda continued to torment Da Costa, leaving the centre-back rooted to the spot with a feint and low strike wide of Green’s near post.
Still, Chelsea’s ability to attack at will left them vulnerable to the counter-punch, with Demba Ba firing in a fine 25-yard effort that Cech did well to palm away on the slippery turf.
Ancelotti conveyed his frustration from the touchline at every mistimed challenge. Drogba was offering the palest imitation of his usual threat, which told you all you needed to know about the Chelsea manager’s verdict on Fernando Torres’ form. Yet again the club’s record signing, without a goal in 13 attempts, had been left on the bench here.
Their concerns would have been better focused on the other goal. Cech, suddenly, found himself under pressure when Freddie Sears scampered beyond Ashley Cole on the left and looped in an inviting cross that Jonathan Spector met with a diving header. Again, the Czech goalkeeper had to be at full stretch to protect Chelsea’s faltering defence.
Briefly, the rain relented, to be replaced by the sound of thunder. The players were struggling to achieve any rhythm but Sears remained dangerous, with the youngster highly unlucky to be denied from an audacious volleyed back-heel. Ashley Cole, tracking back, was inspired in clearing off the line.
Fluency up front was hard to come by. Chelsea’s passing was growing increasingly haphazard and West Ham should have been quicker to punish an ill-advised pass by Kalou. But just when stalemate threatened, Lampard arrived. Drogba threaded a beautiful cross to Cole, who teed up the midfielder to smash the ball high into the net, comfortably out of Green’s reach.
Thrilled as Lampard was by the breakthrough, it may not have been the best idea for him to run jubilantly towards the Shed End, where West Ham’s supporters meted out the usual fearful abuse to their former prodigy.
Torres, though, could celebrate as much as he liked on his triumphant substitute’s appearance. Put through by Anelka, his fellow replacement, the Spaniard showed some of the touch of old to rifle the ball beyond Green on the spin. Malouda, thwarted at the outset, also belatedly joined the party when he dispatched an irresistible strike from the edge of the box – one set up, aptly enough, by that man Torres.


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Mail:

Chelsea 3 West Ham 0:
Torres breaks his duck as Hammers stay rock bottom
By Patrick Collins

Fernando Torres fashioned a goal out of touch and vision and the instinct of a born striker. And thekind of roar which once greeted the winning of cups and titles erupted at Stamford Bridge.
After months of aching misses and hapless misadventures, a player bought for £50million had a goal to his name and Chelsea were still clutching their frail and tenuous chance of finishing at the summit of the Premier League.
The fans bellowed his name over and over again, the communal relief almost matching his own. Chelsea players rushed to him from every corner of the pitch, flinging themselves upon the scorer in celebrations which were almost orgiastic.
They had waited with Torres for this first, desperately elusive goal, and their glee was palpable.
It was not only an important goal, in that it extinguished West Ham’s increasingly confident challenge, it was also an attractive one.
With Chelsea anxiously protecting a fragile lead, Nicolas Anelka played a probing pass through the heart of West Ham’s defence.
Torres raced on to it, only to see the ball halted by the surface water. He reacted more quickly than his markers, shifting the chance from right foot to left, glancing at the far post, then curling home the shot.
Suddenly, as the blue shirts buried him, his world looked a different place. When he helped organise a thumping third goal for Florent Malouda in added time, he departed with the smile of a man who cannot believe his renewed fortune.
While Chelsea could enjoy the moment, West Ham were left to contemplate a fate which is drawingcloser by the game. Yet, they deserved a measure of sympathy.
When they decided to go at Chelsea, they seemed capable of achieving something substantial. Indeed, had Robbie Keane’s finishing matched his reputation, the table might look marginally different.
But as Chelsea’s defence grew increasingly neurotic, Keane missed the opportunities which intelligent pressure had produced.
West Ham had approached their task with depressing timidity, allowing Chelsea space and time to work at leisure.
In the third minute, Didier Drogba sent Malouda in with an incisive ball. The shot hit Robert Green as the keeper advanced, but the move held promise of profit.
Heavy rain started to fall, the first serious downpour London has seen in weeks, and West Ham floundered.
They attempted nothing positive, crowded bodies behind the ball and were forced deeper.
Carlton Cole was a lonely figure up front. Without support, or even the distant company of a claret and blue shirt, he might have been at a different match. Yet, Chelsea’s attacking lacked any great enterprise.
Although Drogba was as dramatically assertive as ever, the midfield was pitifully short of ideas.
West Ham’s first serious retaliation was delayed until 24 minutes, when Demba Ba let fly with aspeculative drive which Petr Cech turned over for a corner.
It gave the visitors a taste for something positive. Freddie Sears embarked on a splendidly determined surge down the left, released a fine, low cross and Jonathan Spector’s header brought Cech plunging to the foot of a post.
Ashley Cole was forced to nudge a Sears effort off his own line as lightning flashed, thunder crashed and Chelsea trembled ominously.
But two minutes before the interval, Chelsea roused themselves to positive effect. Michael Essien played a searching ball down the line to Cole, who cut back a low cross. Frank Lampard, unattended eight yards out, was given the simplest of tasks with his drive.
As the players emerged for the second half, water was lying on the pitch. Passes came up short, withthe conditions resembling late November rather than a drought-ridden April.
West Ham lost Mark Noble, their principal playmaker, but the match was alive.
Chelsea’s David Luiz might have decided it with a drive which threatened to splinter the crossbar. And then, in 76 minutes, Torres made his entrance at the expense of Drogba.
With almost his first contribution, he helped to provide a shooting chance for another substitute, Anelka.
As the goal was prematurely celebrated, Danny Gabbidon arrived from nowhere to make a spectacular block.
Chelsea seemed doomed to worry their way through to the finish, until that 83rd minute.
Then Torres took his splendid goal, and his world went wonderfully mad.

MATCH FACTS

Chelsea (4-3-2-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Essien (Benayoun 56), Mikel, Lampard; Malouda, Kalou (Anelka 70); Drogba (Torres 76). Subs (not used):Turnbull, Zhirkov, Ferreira, Bertrand. Booked: Ivanovic.

West Ham (4-4-2): Green; Jacobsen, Da Costa, Gabbidon, Bridge; Sears (Obinna 81), Spector, Noble (Keane 59), Hitzlsperger; Ba, Cole (Piquionne 78). Subs (not used): Boffin, Tomkins, Boa Morte, Kovac. Booked: Hitzlsperger, Ba.
Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).
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Mirror:

Chelsea 3-0 West Ham:
By Steve Stammers

After 732 minutes of frustration, Fernando Torres finally got the goal that ended his drought.

In front of the Matthew Harding Stand, Torres ­collected a ball from Nicolas Anelka, turned inside and fired past Robert Green.
His joy was ­understandable and Stamford Bridge ­erupted with as much relief as ­delight.
Chelsea are determined to hang on to their title and push Manchester United to the limit. With Torres now remembering where the net is, the hope is not so forlorn.
The initial impression at Stamford Bridge was that Chelsea manager Carlo ­Ancelotti had missed a trick. With Torres desperate for a goal after three barren months since his £50million move from Liverpool, this was ­surely the day he could open his ­account. Even with Matthew Upson, the West Ham defence has looked porous of late.
And when the England ­international defender was ruled out of yesterday’s clash with a chest infection, Torres would have fancied his ­chances of ending his hoodoo.
But Ancelotti opted to keep Roman Abramovich’s prize asset on the bench and went for the physique and power of Didier Drogba.
The agendas for the ­opposing teams could not have been more stark. For Chelsea, ­victory was essential to hang on to the coat-tails of Premier League leaders Manchester United. As for West Ham, they would just settle for United to be on their fixture list next season.
There was ,of course, another undercurrent of emotion for what was already a feisty affair.
John Terry and Wayne Bridge have history – and Bridge was clearly in no mood to forgive and forget.
Etiquette dictates the players shake hands before the start. Bridge was clearly uneasy with the custom and ignored Terry to shake hands instead with the Chelsea mascot.
But a mere two minutes into the match, Ancelotti was so close to justification for his selection as Drogba scythed open the Hammers ­defence with an exquisite through ball that left Florent Malouda clear on goal.
But Robert Green was alert and smothered at the Frenchman’s feet. Chelsea continued to pile on the pressure but desperate defending kept them at bay.
And the longer they held out, the more West Ham’s confidence grew.
A ferocious thunderstorm left the pitch with a difficult surface — and West Ham looked the more at ease.
After 24 minutes, the ­eccentric Demba Ba tested Petr Cech with a fierce shot and two minutes later Cech had to be at his sharpest to keep out a close-range header from Jonathan Spector.
Cech was then grateful for Ashley Cole’s presence on the line when Freddie Sears’ shot looked set to end up in the net.
Cole showed his attacking side just before half-time as he accelerated on to a through ball from Michael Essien to cross low for Frank Lampard to fire home from 10 yards.
West Ham refused to ­capitulate — and they came so close to an equaliser in the 51st minute. A Mark Noble corner eluded the Chelsea defence and Manuel da Costa headed ­goalwards only to see John Obi Mikel block.
Essien went off with a hamstring problem to be replaced by Yossi Benayoun.
West Ham saw Noble stretchered off and ­replaced by ­Robbie Keane.
Drogba was again the menace just after the hour as he sent a cross into the path of Lampard but the rain-soaked pitch took the sting off his shot.
Malouda then broke in to the area but decided to shoot ­instead of crossing and the ball went into the side ­netting. Suddenly the game came to life. David Luiz hit the West Ham bar with a 20-yarder and Cech had to stop Keane’s shot.
But Torres came up with his goal and could then indulge himself as creator to set up Malouda for the home side’s third in injury time
Chelsea alive — West Ham heading down.

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