Mata and Hazard light up Lamps’ day

Chelsea 2 West Ham United 0

Rather than reveal his frustration or anger, however, Juan Mata turned to the fans in front of him and smiled.

The sense of enjoyment summed up the afternoon.

A Spanish international failing to finish has, of course, been one of a number of issues to complicate Chelsea’s tumultuous campaign along with the ongoing controversy over the current manager, Frank Lampard’s contract and a generally inconsistent run of results. Amid all the chaos, in fact, the only elements really missing from the Bridge have been notionally routine wins like this and an overall feeling of fun.

Both finally arrived against West Ham yesterday, with all of that best exemplified by the almost nonchalant brilliance of Mata and Eden Hazard. Inevitably, the two combined supremely for Chelsea’s clincher, with the Belgian slamming home after an exquisite exchange of passes.

Even more predictably, it was Lampard who scored the opener by netting the 200th goal of his Chelsea career against the club who gave him his start in the game. Although that moment brought the only real negative in the afternoon as the midfielder had all manner of missiles thrown at him from the way end, it also set the general tone of celebration and positivity for the home crowd.

West Ham later threatened to ban any fans found to have thrown missiles.

“I’m really happy for Frank Lampard,” Benitez said. “It’s a great achievement for any player but especially a midfielder.”

Given such a mood, as well as the absence of any notable chants against the Spanish manager himself, Benitez was asked whether it was this kind of positivity he was referring to and wanted when he gave his infamous press conference after the FA Cup match in Middlesbrough.

To his credit, he declined the opportunity to puncture that atmosphere by bringing it all up again and kept his response rather straight.

“You have an opinion,” Benitez said. “If the team is playing well, the fans will enjoy and that is the main target for us, to try to stick together.”

Sam Allardyce, however, was left wondering how his team had come apart. Up until Lampard’s 18th-minute header, West Ham had actually been competing well in what had been a lively game.

Once their defence came apart for that opener, though, so did their entire team.

“He’s the ghost in the box that no-one seems to see,” Allardyce complained. “Massive credit to him for 200 goals in his career. I’m just sad it’s come against us.

“What interests me is how Frank sneaked into the box to score. That’s all I see.”

West Ham did have the ball in the net four minutes after that only to see it ruled out for a push, but that was the only aberration in an apparently endless siege of Chelsea attacking. Demba Ba, in particular, could have hat-trick as he squandered three one-on-ones. On another day, the new striker replicating Fernando Torres’s problems at the club might have been a worry. Yesterday, Chelsea were playing with too much confidence, too much quality.

As much as Allardyce complained about his own side, even he admitted that.

“It was a tough afternoon with the talent of Mata and Hazard, particularly,” the West Ham boss said. “They were both outstanding today. As much as I’d like to say we should have defended better, sometimes you just have to admire the talent.”

That was certainly the case in the 49th minute, as they linked up for that luscious goal. And, given how it sees Chelsea take command of third place again, it might finally see people at the club smiling for that much longer.

CHELSEA: Cech 7; Azpilicueta 7, Luiz 7 (Terry 7; 78), Cahill 7, Cole 7; Ramires 7, Lampard 7; Hazard 9, Mata 9 (Mikel 6; 86), Moses 7 (Oscar 7; 70); Ba 6.

WEST HAM: Jaaskelainen 7; Demel 5, Reid 5, Collins 5 (Tomkins 5; 61), O’Brien 5; Vaz Te 5 (Cole 5; 80), Collison 5, O’Neil 5, Diame 5 (Taylor 5; 45); Carroll 5

Referee: Michael Oliver.