Lampard looking to be let off

Frank Lampard will be hoping for a reprieve when Football Association bosses meet today to rule on his appeal against the red card he received against West Ham at the weekend.

If the sending-off for his clash with West Ham striker Luis Boa Morte is overturned it will leave Lampard free to play in Chelsea’s FA Cup quarter-final against Barnsley on Saturday.

And it would be a timely boost before the club’s crucial Champions League second leg encounter against Olympiakos at Stamford Bridge tomorrow night.

Lampard was dismissed for only the second time in his career when he responded to a challenge by Boa Morte.

He appeared to shove the Portuguese in the chest but it is understood referee Peter Walton told Chelsea players he acted on advice from assistant referee Guy Beale, who believed he saw Lampard strike Boa Morte in the face.

The FA’s four-man regulatory commission are due to view video footage of the evidence to ascertain whether an obvious error occurred.

If that proves to be the case then Lampard has a good chance of having the red card rescinded, although the whole incident, in which Lampard also aimed a kick at Boa Morte as they grappled on the Upton Park turf, is certain to be reviewed.

As things stand, the red card carries an automatic three-match ban which would see Lampard miss Chelsea’s FA Cup trip to Barnsley next weekend and Premier League games against relegation strugglers Derby and Sunderland.

A Lampard reprieve, however, would be the ideal boost as Chelsea prepare for their tie against Olympiakos, which is goalless after the first leg, and their FA Cup quarter-final against Barnsley on Saturday.

The 4-0 destruction of West Ham on Saturday restored confidence following the Carling Cup defeat and with Chelsea just seven points behind Arsenal in the Premier League with a game in hand, Joe Cole is relishing the final push for silverware with the club still fighting on three fronts.

“We have got everyone fit now. This is the right time to go forward. We have two big cup games coming up. Every game is a big game because we have to win them,” Cole told the club’s website, www.chelseafc.com.

“We have been in this situation before which could help us. We know what we have got to do and it will go down to the last few games, I am certain of that.”