Chelsea 2 West Ham 0: Benítez hails ‘fantastic’ Lampard after win
Chelsea 2 West Ham 0: Rafael Benítez reserves praise for Frank Lampard after midfielder scores 200th goal for the club
Rafael Benítez singled out Frank Lampard for special praise after watching the veteran midfielder net his 200th Chelsea goal in Sunday’s win over West Ham.
Lampard, 34, gave the Blues the lead in the 19th minute at Stamford Bridge, before Eden Hazard netted a superb second for the west Londoners five minutes after half-time to secure a comfortable victory.
“I’m happy because Frank has scored 200 goals, it’s a fantastic achievement for anyone but particularly him,” Benitez said.
“I’m really pleased for him. Frank is a fantastic player and he works very hard in training. We have a lot of games to play this season, so hopefully he can score more goals.
“I don’t take credit myself but I also give credit to the rest of the team because they give balance.”
The win hoists Chelsea back up into third place in the Premier League table above Tottenham, who were beaten by Fulham.
And Benítez is refusing to rule out the possibility of pipping Manchester City to second place after the Citizens’ defeat at Everton on Saturday.
He added: “If we continue winning, you can be closer to second,” the Spaniard added. “We have a busy schedule now and then we will see where we are in the table.
“Today we continued the momentum of playing attacking football and creating chances – we should have scored more goals.”
Chelsea travel to Southampton for their next league game on 30 March after the international break.
