Lampard sparks Chelsea revival

IT HAS been a long time coming but last night Chelsea, thanks to a controversial 80th-minute penalty winner from Frank Lampard, dramatically disrupted Manchester United’s title challenge and revived their own fractured season; lock, stock and two smoking barrels.

This was billed as a game all about two players – Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney – who perhaps shouldn’t be playing, but thankfully football overtook the off-field headlines in the end with a wonderful night of football drama that saw champions Chelsea come from 1-0 down to beat the Premier League leaders with a pulsating second-half display and move back into fourth place, still 12 points behind United but with pride restored.

David Luiz scored the all-important equaliser for Carlo Ancelotti’s side but it was Lampard’s emphatic penalty, harshly given for a trip by Chris Smalling on Yuri Zhirkov, that sent the home fans home happy and blew open the title race just when it seemed heading for predictability.