Lampard lights up Bridge

Chelsea 4 Blackburn 2

The London club were in the middle of a crisis, if their opponents were to be believed, following defeats against Manchester United and Real Betis. But after effortlessly beating Newcastle any doubts over their role as firm title favourites have evaporated.

While United have been unsettled by the sudden departure of Roy Keane and Arsenal hit by an injury to yet another defender, Chelsea are rumbling on towards their ultimate destination.

That fact should never have really been in doubt and Lampard’s remarkable consistency - he hasn’t missed a match in the Premiership since September 2001 - is one of the main reasons why.

He has now matched James’ record of consecutive league games and will beat it at Portsmouth next Saturday. And there is no question of him taking a rest after that, either.

“It’s the manager’s decision but I don’t want to be rested, I don’t like to miss games. But that depends on form and fitness. Even going for the record the manager was not going to pick me or not pick me on the strength of the record. He does it on what’s good for the team.

“Winning the league is the main priority now. That’s how I see it. I’m proud of the record but sometimes more has been said of it than I feel about it. And people use it if I don’t have a good game, saying I’m tired - whereas the fact is sometimes I don’t have a good game.”

Lampard still has a long way to go to match the Football League record of 450 consecutive games, held by Liverpool’s Phil Neal, but in the modern game his level of consistency is unparalleled. So it’s interesting to hear that it wasn’t always way.

“I’ve only had a couple of serious injuries in my career but I broke my leg when I was 18,” he said. But there haven’t been many injuries since. It has to be something to do with fitness and with the way I live, because if I didn’t live right I’d get muscle injuries at some point.

“Part of it is also luck. And part of it is being a big clever, not flying into tackles that are silly and you can’t win, and not pulling out of tackles.”

Lampard was his usual steady self on Saturday, probing from midfield and crucially setting up Hernan Crespo’s goal in the second half, just minutes after Joe Cole had broken the deadlock and ended Newcastle’s resistance.

The visitors, without Alan Shearer and Michael Owen, had been pretty toothless, although Damien Duff’s late deflected effort did flatter Chelsea, who never needed or wanted to move out of second gear in what was a routine victory.

If Lampard typifies the consistency of the champions then Joe Cole is a credit to the work ethic the manager has instilled into his team of multi-millionaires.

“The last 12 months have been fantastic for me,” said Cole. “I’m playing for a top side here who are champions, I’m playing for England and I’m really enjoying my football. You never stop learning, though, I’m still as hungry to learn as I was 12 months ago. I’ve taken great strides but I still want to improve.

“It’s very important for us as a team to have won this game not mentally because we’re always confident we are going to go out and beat anybody, but for the league after losing at Old Trafford.

“There’s been a lot written about the result at United but although we were disappointed to lose we think we played well enough to get something and at the end we’re still top of the league. I think we can really push on after this result.”

Cole’s words are likely to be greeted with frustration at Highbury and Old Trafford, because not even Chelsea’s harshest critics can claim to be spotting signs of a crisis in west London any more.

Opta Fact: Chelsea have scored 24 goals in their last 10 games against Newcastle in the Premiership.

Opta Fact: The Magpies have never won at Stamford Bridge in the Premiership W0 D4 L9.