Chelsea put their recent troubles behind them as Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard scored in a 3-1 win over West Brom.
Chelsea played with a clinical swagger not seen since early in the 2010-11 Premier League campaign and the result was the perfect tonic to ease the pain of their Champions League exit during the week.
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti – who admitted on Friday he may face the sack at the end of what is likely to be a trophy-less season – must have feared the worst after Peter Odemwingie fired the Baggies ahead on 17 minutes.
But Chelsea, who had left record-signing Fernando Torres on the bench, responded swiftly, scoring all three goals at half-time.
Ancelotti’s team remains third on the Premier league table with 61 points.
Villa sink West Ham
West Ham’s relegation fears mounted after Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor pounced in injury time at Upton Park to give the visitors a 2-1 victory.
West Ham striker Robbie Keane had put the Londoners 1-0 up but Villa levelled through Darren Bent on 36 minutes. The game seemed destined for a draw until Agbonlahor popped up in the first minute of injury time to sink the Hammers.
Avram Grant’s West Ham now head into matches against Chelsea and Manchester City stuck in the bottom three and with just five games to save their season.
Sunderland slump
Sunderland’s miserable run of form continued after they crashed 2-0 against Birmingham at St Andrews. Birmingham went ahead shortly before half-time through Sebastian Larsson capitalizing. The Blues made sure of the points with Craig Gardner lashing in a powerful effort to make it 2-0.
In the other matches, Everton stretched their unbeaten run to six matches with a 2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers while minnows Blackpool sunk into the relegation zone after crashing 3-1 at home to fellow strugglers Wigan Athletic. Wigan moved out of the bottom three for the first time since early February with a vital win.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 17th, 2011.
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