Lampard: Blues in good shape for Barcelona
The Premiership champions arrived in Spain last night with concerns about their in-form striker after he failed to appear at the start of the second half against Sheffield United because of a foot injury.
With Andriy Shevchenko unable to travel to Yorkshire on Saturday because of a knee injury, Mourinho could be forced to field a makeshift attack in Spain, yet Lampard is confident Chelsea can still book their place in the last 16 of the Champions League against the holders.
“I don’t know how bad Didier is, which is a bit of a blow as he’s been playing so well, but as a team and a squad we’re feeling very strong,” said Lampard, whose inspirational midfield scoring performance earned Chelsea a fifth straight win. “We’ve been playing well. I don’t think this was our greatest performance but we showed a different side to our game.”
Having picked up the points without playing particularly well all season, the champions have shown signs of their true quality with three contrasting performances in the space of the week, outplaying Portsmouth, out-thinking Blackburn and out-fighting Sheffield United.
Neil Warnock’s side might be struggling near the bottom of the table, but they can never be accused of shirking a physical confrontation.
Lampard and Michael Ballack stole the headlines with their goals, but Henrique Hilario deserves special mention. Few people had heard of Chelsea’s third-choice goalkeeper before Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini suffered serious injuries in the game at Reading on October 14 and there was plenty of pressure heaped on the 31-year-old’s shoulders when he lined up for his debut against Barcelona four days later.
Four matches into his Chelsea first-team career and the Portuguese stopper has three clean sheets to his name, and he further enhanced his growing reputation with the club’s supporters by saving Danny Webber’s first-half penalty after Drogba had fouled United defender Claude Davis.
True, Webber’s tame effort left a lot to be desired as the former Manchester United reserve player opted to out-wit the keeper rather than use brute force.
Yet Hilario’s heroics has left his manager, who has Cudicini available again, with a dilemma ahead of Chelsea’s biggest away test in the Champions League this season.
“Hilario is playing amazing. He is very cool in the goal, very comfortable. The penalty save could be crucial for the game,” Mourinho said. “Carlo Cudicini is available.
“Like with every player, I have to think and choose the one who can do better for us.”
Had Hilario not made the save, Chelsea would have been trailing for the first time since Mark Viduka’s last minute winner for Middlesbrough on August 23.
Yet the majority of those crammed into Bramall Lane on Saturday lunchtime sensed that had that happened, Chelsea still had enough in the tank, even without Shevchenko, to move up a gear.
Despite United’s huffing and puffing, the Londoners, inspired by Lampard, won at a canter.
The England midfielder has had his fair share of critics this season after a string of below-par performances for club and country, but Lampard looked the part in south Yorkshire. His fifth Premiership goal of the season came courtesy of a glaring error by Paddy Kenny just moments after the Republic of Ireland keeper had denied Chelsea’s No 8 with a spectacular flying save.
Kenny later redeemed himself with a terrific block to deny Arjen Robben, but he was let down by his defence as Ballack used his head to score for the second successive Premiership game.
Chelsea could not be in better shape as they look to erase the memory of last season’s Champions League failure.
However, Lampard departed Yorkshire insisting there is still room for improvement at Chelsea.
“It’s not the time to say we’re going to win the Champions League,” he added. “We hope and want to be successful in everything we do, in the league and in Europe, but it’s much too early to say.”
Opta Fact: The last penalty Sheffield United scored was in August 2005 — against Coventry.
Opta Fact: Chelsea have scored the opening goal of all 10 Premiership games that they have played this season.
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