Lampard strikes for Chelsea, Arsenal lose again

Frank Lampard steered Chelsea to a 2-0 win over Portsmouth while Arsenal's Champions League hopes for next season suffered a bodyblow with a 1-0 defeat at Blackburn Rovers yesterday.

England midfielder Lampard slotted home the breakthrough goal for the champions at Stamford Bridge after 65 minutes and Dutch winger Arjen Robben made sure of the points with their second on 78 minutes.

The laboured victory on a heavy pitch, just three days after their Champions League loss there to Barcelona, extended Chelsea's lead at the top over Manchester United to 15 points.

Arsenal, who beat Real Madrid 1-0 away on Tuesday, failed to close the five-point gap on north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the race for next season's Champions League after Norway's Morten Gamst Pedersen got the only goal at Ewood Park.

Newcastle United's fine form under caretaker coach Glenn Roeder continued with a 2-0 home win over Everton in the late kick-off, with Peruvian Nolberto Solano getting both goals.

Birmingham City beat Sunderland 1-0 in their relegation scrap with an Emile Heskey goal and Charlton Athletic were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Aston Villa.

Chelsea looked jaded after their 2-1 defeat with 10 men by Barcelona and took their time warming up against Harry Redknapp's side, who now look firm candidates for the drop.

Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba lined up the precious opener for Lampard, with the England midfielder making up for what had been a disappointing performance with a fine finish.

Robben did the same after being set up by a superb ball over the top of Portsmouth's defence by Icelandic striker-cum-midfielder Eidur Gudjohnsen.

"The game in midweek was draining physically and draining mentally," said Chelsea's assistant manager Steve Clarke.

"It was always going to be difficult especially after playing 60 minutes with only 10 men.

"We looked at the stats and saw that some players ran two kms more than they would normally do."

As for the final stages of the season, Clarke said: "We're in a great position to be champions again but it's going to take a lot of hard work and hopefully some quality football to get there."

The win lifts Chelsea to 69 points, well clear of Manchester United (54). Third-placed Liverpool, on 51, play Manchester City amidst today's league games.

The big loser yesterday was clearly Arsenal, who suffered their eighth away league loss of the season and squandered their game in hand on Tottenham in the race to finish fourth.

Spurs hold that slot with 46 points, while Blackburn's victory means they leapfrog Arsenal into fifth place on 43, leaving Arsene Wenger's side sixth on 41 and under threat by West Ham, who also have 41 and a game in hand.

"I'm very sad because I don't think we deserved to lose this game... we were always on top but just couldn't score," Wenger told Sky Sports News after their 10th defeat of the season.

"We gave absolutely everything, but we lacked a little bit of mental sharpness maybe because of Tuesday night. We were really unfortunate not to get something out of the game."

England squad to face Uruguay

England squad named yesterday for Wednesday's friendly against Uruguay at Liverpool:

Goalkeepers: David James, Robert Green, Paul Robinson.

Defenders: Luke Young, John Terry, Wayne Bridge, Jamie Carragher, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Ledley King.

Midfielders: Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard, Kieran Richardson, David Beckham, Michael Carrick, Jermaine Jenas.

Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe.

Upcoming fixtures...

Wednesday: Friendly internationals 8.30 p.m. Ireland vs Sweden. 8.45 p.m. Northern Ireland vs Estonia. 9 p.m. England vs Uruguay; Scotland vs Switzerland; Wales vs Paraguay.

Saturday: Premier League 1.45 p.m. West Brom vs Chelsea. 4 p.m. Aston Villa vs Portsmouth; Fulham vs Arsenal; M'Boro vs Birmingham; Newcastle vs Bolton; West Ham vs Everton. 6.15 p.m. Liverpool vs Charlton.

Sunday: Premier League 2.30 p.m. Manchester City vs Sunderland. 5 p.m. Tottenham vs Blackburn.

Monday, March 6: Premier League 9 p.m. Wigan vs Manchester United.