Chelsea close in on title with win at Liverpool

May 2, 2010 - 6:26 PM By ALEX CROOK STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Frank Lampard hailed Chelsea's professionalism after the Blues moved to the brink of their first Premier League title in four years with a 2-0 win at Liverpool on Sunday.

Rivals Manchester United needed a favour from their arch rivals but Steven Gerrard's horrendous back pass gifted Didier Drogba the opening goal 12 minutes before half time.

England midfielder Lampard sealed a surprisingly easy win by converting Nicolas Anelka's cross soon after the interval.

Lampard said: "This was a huge game for us. We know if we had drop points here we would have given the momentum for United.

"We had to come here and do a job and came here with the right attitude and deserved to win the game by a few more.

"It has been a difficult week for them what with being knocked out of Europe and they gave it everything.

"We were in a bit of a low point a couple of months ago and credit to the players, managers, staff and everyone at the club because we have pushed our way out of that and are on the brink of winning the double."

Some Liverpool supporters were hoping their team lost to help prevent United from surpassing their record of 18 top-flight titles.

Rafael Benitez's side started brightly, with Alberto Aquilani shaving the crossbar with an early right foot curler.

Aquilani passed up a glorious chance to open the scoring when he was played one-on-one with goalkeeper Petr Cech by Gerrard's lofted pass but the Italian delayed his shot.

Chelsea's 33rd-minute opening goal will have conspiracy theorists working overtime.

Gerrard collected the ball midway inside his own half but the Liverpool captain played a blind back pass to Pepe Reina, which was intercepted by Drogba and the Ivorian calmly rounded the goalkeeper before side-footing into an empty net.

It was all over nine minutes into the second half when Lampard claimed his 21st goal of the season.

Anelka beat Liverpool's offside trap and rolled the ball across the six-yard box for Lampard to slide in and beat the stranded Reina from close range.

Liverpool, clearly feeling the effects of their extra-time Europa League semi-final defeat to Atletico Madrid on Thursday, never looked capable of making a comeback and mustered only one shot on target in the whole game.

Chelsea manager Ancelotti said: "It was a very important step for the fight for the title. We played very well and deserved to win. It was a fantastic result for us.

"We played with personality, with courage and did tactically very well."

The defeat was Liverpool's 19th of the season in all competitions.

Reds boss Benitez refused to be drawn on rumours of an impending move to Italian giants Juventus.

Benitez said: "After a game like this we should be talking about what happens on the pitch not speculation."