4:54pm Saturday 1st March 2008
By Guardian-series
West Ham 0
Chelsea 4
(Barclays Premier League)
WEST Ham's slender hopes of qualifying for Europe went up in smoke as Cheslea struck a devastating blow at Upton Park this afternoon.
The Blues, eager to make up for last week's Carling Cup final defeat, effectively sealed the game - and kept alive their own title hopes - in five first half minutes.
First, former Hammer Frank Lampard fired home from the spot on 17 minutes after Anton Ferdinand had clumsily halted Solomon Kalou's bursting run into the box.
Moments later, another old east end boy, Joe Cole, rifled a low drive into the far corner from the edge of the box.
Then Michael Ballack scored the goal of the game on 22 minutes. The German midfielder met Lampard's neat cross, and sent a well-struck, first-time half volley into the bottom corner.
It took until the half hour mark for West Ham to register a noteworthy shot at goal, Mark Noble's shot being acrobatically tipped over the crossbar by Petr Cech.
But the Blues didn't have it all their own way, as Lampard was given a straight red card on 34 minutes following a seemingly innocuous off-the-ball incident with Luis Boa Morte. The England midfielder appeared to push the Portugal forward after the ball had gone.
However, the Hammers could not take advantage - despite dominating possession and territory, they never looked like eating into Cheslea's commanding lead.
Carlton Cole came closest to scoring for the hosts on 59 minutes, the forward seeing his goalbound effort expertly cleared off the line by Blues skipper John Terry.
Ashley Cole rounded off the scoring on 64 minutes, the defender firing in a rebound from an acute angle after Robert Green had done well to deny Joe Cole.
West Ham: Green, Neill, McCartney, Upson, Ferdinand, Noble, Mullins, Faubert (Solano 65), Ljungberg, Boa Morte (Ashton 46), Cole (Zamora 65).
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