Moody Blues moving on up

IF Chelsea are to mount a belated defence of their Barclays Premier League title, they will have to play a lot better than they did at Blackpool.

But crucially Carlo Ancelotti’s side showed they can still win without hitting top gear.

January’s £50million transfer Fernando Torres may have drawn another blank in his fifth match since joining from Liverpool, but fortunately for the Blues they did not need his goals.

And manager Carlo Ancelotti is not concerned by the Spaniards’s form.

“I am happy as he is working hard, supporting the team defensively and he has very good behaviour on the pitch,” said the Italian.

There will come a time in the run-in when the Spain striker will have to produce the goods if they are to have a chance of reeling in Manchester United’s nine-point advantage, even with a match in hand.

But at Bloomfield Road it was Chelsea’s tried and tested players who did the job, with Frank Lampard scoring twice in the second half after captain John Terry had given them the lead before the interval.

Jason Puncheon’s late goal caused a few wobbles in the visitors defence, but the Stamford Bridge side had enough experience to ensure there were no slip-ups.

Afterwards Frank Lampard insisted Chelsea can still go on and defend their title: “We have to believe we can do it. It is a long shot and we have a lot to do but if we go and win every game we will have a great chance.

“It is nice to be looking up in the table at the top four. It’s been a good week, we weren’t at our best tonight, we were a bit sloppy and we cannot afford to be like that.”

The scoreline may have looked comfortable but, like many visitors to the seaside this season, Chelsea found themselves on the back foot for long periods in the first half.

David Carney, on his first appearance for almost a month, had a productive 45 minutes down the left wing as Jose Bosingwa found himself turned inside-out on several occasions.

The Australian tried to test Petr Cech early on, cutting the ball back on to his right foot, but could only curl a shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Blackpool looked far more inventive, with Chelsea’s front two of Didier Drogba and Torres again failing to impress as a partnership.

However, the hosts could not make their early possession tell and Seasiders manager Ian Holloway would have been fuming with the manner in which his side conceded the opening goal against the run of play.

When Lampard swung over a 20th-minute right-wing corner, Terry easily slipped his marker to head home the simplest of chances.

Blackpool were almost gifted an equaliser in the 33rd minute when Puncheon found space in the inside-right channel to skip past David Luiz and shoot low at Cech, who let the ball slip through his fingers and was relieved to see it bounce off a post.

The Czech was only slightly more convincing when he just managed to get a fingertip on Ian Evatt’s cross-shot to help it over the bar.

Chelsea finished the half as they had started it, under pressure, although Ramires’ long-range effort had Kingson diving to his right to palm his shot behind in added time.

Drogba lasted less than 10 minutes of the second half before he fell under a challenge from James Beattie and was replaced by Solomon Kalou.

More by luck than invention the substitution provided the visitors the spark which they had been missing.

Within seven minutes of coming on, Kalou won a penalty when Evatt felled him in the box allowing Lampard to put his side in the comfort zone from the spot. The decision incensed Blackpool boss Ian Holloway

“I think that was key, particularly when Lampard is going to take it as he normally scores. He (Kalou) couldn’t wait to go down and we were a bit naive and the ref couldn’t wait to give it.”

Four minutes later the England midfielder slotted home his fourth goal in as many matches after Kalou again provided the through-ball.

Kingson then had to go off injured and be replaced by Mark Halstead.

With nine minutes to go, substitute Matt Phillips should have reduced the deficit when sent racing clear by Keith Southern, but he flashed a shot wide of Cech’s far post. Puncheon succeeded where his team-mate had failed from a similar position in the 86th minute, but it did nothing to ease Blackpool’s growing worries. They are just two points above the drop zone.

BLACKPOOL: Kingson (Halstead 66), Eardley, Baptiste, Evatt, Crainey, Puncheon, Vaughan, Southern, Carney (Phillips 73), Reid (Ormerod 72), Beattie.

CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa, David Luiz, Terry, Cole, Ramires (McEachran 74), Essien, Lampard, Zhirkov (Malouda 72), Drogba (Kalou 55), Torres.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).