BPL: Torres Breaks His Goal Duck As Chelsea Hammer West Ham

Chelsea 3-0 West Ham

(Lampard 44 Torres 84 Malouda 90)

On a day when Manchester United retained their stranglehold at the top of the Premier League table with a typical winner, title-chasing Chelsea provided a brilliant performance at Stamford Bridge against West Ham United to win 3-0 and keep pace with the leaders as big-money signing Fernando Torres finally broke his goal duck to help the Blues camp heave a huge sigh of relief. If there has been any team that has maintained consistency of the highest level in the past few games, it’s been Chelsea. With the win over the Hammers, the Blues have now secured 19 points from the last 7 games, have turned into a dominant force in the run-in to the title race showdown and now lie 6 points behind Manchester United. These were the highlights of the match that saw Chelsea steamroll past the Hammers.

Finally the 50 Million Man repaid his supporters with a goal in the Blue shirt

Petr Cech, a real asset to Chelsea

Had it not been for Petr Cech’s marvelous saves, the Hammers would have probably gotten away with a goal or two. Full credit to the Chelsea number one, for without him three points on the evening would not have been possible. The Hammers’ efforts were commendable, but Cech’s skill of keeping the ball at bay was beyond amazing. The best came from Demba Ba who produced a couple of long range strikes which stung the palms of Petr Cech. Minutes later when West Ham could finally open their account, a diving Jonathan Spector couldn’t direct his header beyond Cech.

Bad day for Avram Grant and the Hammers

Given that Petr Cech was called into action often, it was evident that West Ham’s creativity was producing the goods but the final act was letting them down time and again. Demba Ba and substitute Robbie Keane had glorious opportunities to put the Blues under pressure, but squandered them and let Chelsea off the hook. As time wore on hope waned for the Hammers and it looked increasingly unlikely that the equalising goal wasn’t coming. Against a team of Chelsea’s quality, one will be punished if one doesn’t take the chances that come your way. That was exactly what West Ham had to endure as they failed to convert their opportunities: punishment, as the defending champions ran riot.

Lampard’s opening goal

The first half of the game was dull and goalless, but just before half time Frank Lampard‘s strike gave the Blues the first goal of the day and oodles of confidence. The deadlock was finally broken. From here on, Chelsea pushed on to attack in full flight.

The 50 million pound question is finally answered

As Chelsea continued to grow ominous, Fernando Torres finally let his supporters heave a huge sigh of relief as he found the back of the net. Finally, the moment arrived when no one will ever say ‘Fernando Torres can’t find the net’, when no one will ever point a finger at Ancelotti’s arrangement. After 732 long minutes, the Spaniard scored his first goal for Chelsea shooting up the excitement level amongst the fans and players at the Bridge. ‘El Nino’ broke his duck eight minutes after arriving as a substitute for Drogba, with a thunderous strike which should now give him the urge to score more. Carlo Ancelotti claimed Torres’ goal will herald a new beginning for the striker. With the title-race heading to an enthralling end, the moment could not have been sweeter, for Torres’s return to form means Chelsea must not be written off at any cost.

Malouda’s magic

With the game done and dusted, flying French winger Florent Malouda added the finishing touches as he produced a moment of magic during the last few minutes of the game. As Torres provided the assist, Malouda sent an unstoppable screamer from the edge of the box that Robert Green could do nothing about. 3-0 and a fabulous win sealed!

Ancelotti’s men royally hammered the Hammers, who are slipping closer with relegation with little signs of arresting that trend and need three wins out of their remaining four matches to stay up, with their sky-high confidence and amazing co-ordination among the players. After leapfrogging Arsenal in the league table, the chances of Chelsea slipping down the league table are very low. And if they get lucky, they might just win the title again this season; practically not reasonable, but not improbable. 6 points separate Chelsea from the top and with the unpredictable way the league has been this year, you never know what to expect.

Edited by Zico