Chelsea go top after beating West Ham

Mar 13, 2010 - 6:14 PM By Adam Carroll-Smith STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Didier Drogba scored twice as Chelsea reclaimed their place at the top of the Premier League with a resounding 4-1 win at home to London rivals West Ham on Saturday.

Drogba's second-half brace took his tally for the season to 27 goals to ruin Hammers manager Gianfranco Zola's return to Stamford Bridge.

West Ham looked set to claim an unlikely point after Chelsea old boy Scott Parker had cancelled out Alex's early header only for Drogba's double and Florent Malouda's ninth of the season to earn Chelsea a comfortable victory.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti expects the title race to go right to the wire.

Ancelotti said: "It will be a long race to the title this season because Manchester United and Arsenal are playing very well.

"We played well today and we have to maintain our confidence and keep winning."

Zola left out top-scorer Carlton Cole, influential Italian Alesandro Diamanti and midfielder Jack Collison.

The visitors should have taken the lead inside the opening 15 minutes when Brazilian striker Ilan blazed over from six yards after Mido had robbed Paulo Ferreira on the byline.

Ilan was made to pay for that miss on 16 minutes as Alex headed Chelsea in front from Malouda's cross.

Malouda's corner was only half cleared and the Frenchman whipped in a teasing centre for Alex to nod into the bottom left corner.

The Blues were almost gifted a second moment later when Matt Upson lashed an attempted clearance onto his own crossbar.

Chelsea's stand-in goalkeeper Ross Turnbull did not have a save to make until he was beaten by Parker's 25-yard thunderbolt on the half hour.

There seemed little danger when Parker collected Kieron Dyer's throw-in midway inside the Chelsea half but the former Chelsea midfielder spotted Turnbull had strayed off his line and picked out the top left corner.

Chelsea restored their lead within 11 minutes of the re-start, Drogba heading another Malouda cross beyond the stranded Robert Green from two yards.

Even the introduction of substitute Cole could not rescue West Ham and the outstanding Malouda put the game out of the visitors' reach 14 minutes from time.

Malouda was allowed to run through the centre of the West Ham defence before calmly firing into Green's bottom left corner.

Drogba put an unfair slant on the scoreline by hitting his second in the final minutes, tapping home from close range after Green could only parry Frank Lampard's long-range shot.

The defeat leaves West Ham just three points above the relegation zone with nine games remaining.

Zola admitted it was a bitter-sweet return to Stamford Bridge, where he spent seven memorable years as a player after being sold by Ancelotti when he was in charge of Parma.

Zola said: "I think 4-1 does not reflect my team's effort. Chelsea probably deserved to win because they are a good team and created a lot of chances.

"The second goal came at a moment when we were playing better than Chelsea and that was the turning point.

"We are not in a safe zone but we are confident we have enough quality to stay up."