Benitez banks on old guard to bail him out

West Ham 3 Chelsea 1

The players in question, as ever, are Frank Lampard and John Terry. The manager this time is Rafa Benitez. The emergency, as ever, is Chelsea and their trigger-happy owner whose irresponsible passion for sacking managers has left his team struggling for form, confidence and consistency.

Andre Villas-Boas will certainly empathise with the situation Benitez finds himself in; as will Carlo Ancelotti and probably Avram Grant too — after all, if legend is to be believed, the Israeli made it all the way to the Champions League final by allowing Terry and his deputy to run the team.