Chelsea look to Lampard

SOCCER:THE BONUS for Chelsea came around 20 minutes after the full-time whistle had blown on their encouraging 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday. Working through a one-on-one warm-down session on the pitch with a member of the Blues medical staff was Frank Lampard, all scurrying little bursts and deep exhalations.

The England midfielder had made a surprise cameo as a 78th-minute substitute, his first football since the game at home to Stoke City on August 28th, when the pain in his groin had become too much to bear and the club could take no chances. Lampard’s reaction, though, as he left the field, told its own story. A wide smile was accompanied by the thumbs-up. Lampard, whose name had previously been a byword for durability, was ready to make up for lost time.

There is a sense of theatre about his return to the starting line-up for tomorrow’s match against Manchester United, and the billing goes that he is back to save his club, who began to splutter in startling fashion last month. The champions’ troubles have clearly run deeper than the absence of one talisman and only in Roy of the Rovers’ stories can that man alone put them right.

Yet if the manager Carlo Ancelotti and the players felt the performance at Spurs displayed stirrings of revival, there is also the sense Lampard’s timely comeback can serve as the spark. Together with the recently-returned John Terry and Michael Essien, Lampard offers familiarity, experience and reassurance. “You need every great player to be fit and playing, especially when you have a lot of difficult games coming up,” said goalkeeper Petr Cech, with an eye also on the visit to Arsenal on Monday week. “It’s always a big boost to have injured players coming back but, with Frank, it’s even more important. If you have a midfielder who scores 20 goals a season, you always miss that.”

There is little doubt Lampard possesses different qualities to Essien, Ramires and Mikel John Obi, most notably his ability to get into scoring positions. Lampard underwent a hernia operation after the Stoke game but his rehabilitation was prolonged by muscular set-backs. “He is the best player able to score from midfield,” Ancelotti said. “He will be able to bring more dynamic movement, experience and character. Frank coming back is very important. We don’t need to have any heroes; we just need a player who is able to score 20 goals from midfield, as Frank did last year.”

Plenty of theories have been advanced to explain the run that has seen Chelsea slip to fourth place, having taken six points from an available 21 – the unavailability of key players, a lack of strength in depth, individual losses of form, Ray Wilkins’ sacking, even complacency. The jury remains out on whether the point at Spurs was the turning one for Chelsea. Lampard’s return will help ascertain whether it was or not.

Paul Scholes has been ruled out of the trip to Chelsea. He has been struggling with a groin problem that has kept him out of action since the Champions League trip to Rangers three weeks ago and manager Alex Ferguson is dubious about the veteran being available for the first part of United’s festive programme.Ferguson says John O’Shea should be available despite a minor calf problem.