Grant starts to flex his muscles

FOR much of his five-month tenure, Avram Grant must have felt managing Chelsea was one giant optical illusion.

This is a club owned by one of the world’s richest men and saturated by silverware over the past three seasons, and yet it is only now that the Israeli can enjoy the full sweep of Stamford Bridge’s resources.

From pondering how to scrape together 16 senior players for key games, Grant is now fretting over who to leave out. Chelsea meet Olympiakos in the last 16 of the Champions League tomorrow and with the treatment room all but emptied and suspension lists cleared, there will be some bruised egos when Grant announces his line-up. Even Didier Drogba, left out here after feeling a twinge in his knee, is not a certain starter, even though Grant expects him to be fit.

Perhaps the only players guaranteed an outing in Athens are the suitably monumental figures of Frank Lampard and John Terry, Chelsea’s twin pillars.

On Saturday, Terry was making his first appearance after suffering a broken foot against Arsenal in December; Lampard, having recovered from a thigh injury, his second. Both were exceptional, the former making a superb goal-line clearance and the latter scoring two trademark goals and creating a third with a pass so crisp you could have cut your finger on it.

Having laboured in his comeback game against Liverpool a week previously, Lampard’s display was especially timely. The 28-year-old has seen some of the stardust stripped from his reputation this season, having been chastised by England supporters for his role in the botched Euro 2008 qualifying campaign and then had his totemic status at Stamford Bridge questioned following the perky performances of Michael Ballack. Now, unquestionably, he is back.

“I’ve been feeling great. I only had a couple of days training before the Liverpool game but I had a full week ahead of this one so I felt very strong,” Lampard said. “I was very frustrated to have been forced out of so many games. Now I don’t want to miss any more until the end of the season, and that goes for John Terry as well. He gives us strength at the back and he can dictate to other players on the pitch.”

Chelsea’s dynamic duo will face a sterner test in Greece and, for that matter, in Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Spurs. The hosts were in control once Lampard swept them ahead in the 18th minute and, while Michael Collins struck a lovely equaliser in first-half stoppage time, Chelsea were in no mood to ‘do a Liverpool’. Lampard bundled in the second on the hour and then set up Salomon Kalou for the third to extend the Blues’ unbeaten home run to a club-record 59 matches.

CHELSEA (4-1-2-3): Cudicini 5, Ferreira 5, Ben Haim 5, Terry 7, Bridge 6, Mikel 6, Sidwell 6 (Shevchenko 75, 6), Lampard 8 (Essien 81, 5), S Sinclair 7, Pizarro 7 (Anelka 85, 5), Kalou 6.

Subs Not Used: Hilario, Carvalho.

HUDDERSFIELD (4-5-1): Glennon 6, F Sinclair 7, Clarke 7, Page 6, Williams 7, Collins 7, Holdsworth 6, Jevons 6 (Kamara 73, 6), Berrett 7 (Schofield 85, 5), Brandon 6, Beckett 6 (Booth 80, 5).

Subs Not Used: Eastwood, Mirfin, Schofield.

REFEREE: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) 7: Even-handed throughout and correct to disallow two Chelsea goals in the second half.

MATCH RATING: *** Huddersfield’s feistiness made it an engrossing occasion, at least until Kalou made Chelsea’s win safe.