Frank Lampard showed the nerve which has made him one of England's
finest players to rescue a point which takes Chelsea four points
clear at the top of the Premier League at Christmas.
Lampard, once hailed but now routinely jeered inside the Upton
Park ground he graced as a youngster, slotted home a penalty in
the second half which he was forced to take three times.
Some players might have been thrown by that. Lampard simply kept
rippling the back of West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green's net until
referee Mike Dean finally signalled the goal which cancelled out
a first-half penalty by Alessandro Diamanti.
But if it signalled two dropped points for Chelsea in their quest
for the title, then for West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola perhaps
this was the corner he has been waiting to turn.
The corner which means the Hammers will not be bottom on Christmas
Day, which is usually a prelude to relegation.
Instead, Zola can forget bringing in a psychologist, as he had
admitted thinking of, to boost the confidence of his West Ham players.
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