Chelsea back on winning track

Frank Lampard scored from the penalty spot as Chelsea restored their three-point lead in the Premier League with an unconvincing 2-1 home win against bottom club Portsmouth yesterday.

Arsenal failed to match the pace, held 1-1 by a spirited Burnley at a rain-lashed Turf Moor to move ahead of Aston Villa on goal difference in third place with a game in hand but eight points off the lead.

Liverpool, marking the 50th anniversary of the late Bill Shankly taking over as the club's manager, grabbed a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Wigan at Anfield to move ahead of Manchester City into sixth place.

City crashed 3-0 to fifth-placed Tottenham at White Hart Lane, the ambitious northerners suffering only their second league defeat of the season after drawing eight of their last 10 games.

Chelsea, without injured top scorer Didier Drogba, dominated from the start against opponents led by their own former manager Avram Grant.

Nicolas Anelka put the Blues ahead in the 23rd minute but Portsmouth refused to give in and were rewarded six minutes after the break when Jamie O'Hara's free-kick hit the wall and fell for Frederic Piquionne to smash the equaliser.

With Chelsea in danger of squandering a golden opportunity, Lampard stepped up to lash home the 79th-minute penalty on his 300th league appearance for Chelsea.