Lampard fires Blue meanies

Tottenham Hotspur 0 - Chelsea

The message to Sir Alex Ferguson on the Chelsea banner in midweek was "Shut your lip, we won't blip". Manchester United, Arsenal and other interested parties continue to hope, but the Stamford Bridge steamroller rumbles on, flattening all in its path.

The message to Sir Alex Ferguson on the Chelsea banner in midweek was "Shut your lip, we won't blip". Manchester United, Arsenal and other interested parties continue to hope, but the Stamford Bridge steamroller rumbles on, flattening all in its path.

Tottenham, famously "parking the bus" in the goalmouth at the Bridge to earn a goalless draw earlier this season, were much more adventurous yesterday in an entertaining derby, but did not have quite enough to breach the country's meanest defence, let alone end a wretched run without a win against Chelsea that now stretches back 30 matches and 15 years. Then, as Chelsea drove back westwards, came the bonus of Arsenal's defeat at Bolton.

Frank Lampard scored both goals, the first from a penalty after a clearer one had been denied, and Jose Mourinho's celebration of the second suggested that he must now believe his personal run of titles is going to continue with Chelsea's first championship for half a century. They have conceded eight goals in 23 Premiership games and none since Thierry Henry's controversial free-kick at Highbury six games ago. Bright as Spurs were for long periods, Petr Cech was so well protected by Claude Makelele and the back four that he had only one real save to make.

Mourinho evidently decided that he had done enough talking for one week, sending his rather less entertaining assistant, Steve Clarke, to field the questions and avoid any danger of a Football Association charge. "It was a good performance in a difficult game," he said. "We're not invincible but we're on top of our game and if we keep getting three points, there's not a lot the others can do."

Martin Jol, suffering the usual curse of the manager of the month award, felt his side were "terrific" in the first half but admitted that without the injured Frédéric Kanouté his attack lacked power and variety. Sending Ledley King, the new captain, up front with a good 25 minutes to play illustrated that.

Even without Kanouté and Joe Cole, who was a substitute, the line-ups were enough to make West Ham supporters weep. As it was, Glen Johnson and Defoe saw plenty of each other in direct competition, as did Michael Carrick and Lampard. It was Lampard who struck the most decisive blow of an invigorating first half, from the penalty spot.

A few minutes earlier, Graham Poll had rejected Chelsea's appeals when Arjen Robben appeared to be nudged from behind by Noé Pamarot inside the penalty area. In the 38th minute Mourinho was on his feet again as Alexei Smertin went down, though King's challenge looked more innocent than Pamarot's. This time the appeals were answered and Lampard placed his kick immaculately, low and right in the corner.

Before that, possession and chances had been evenly divided, Tottenham holding their own but looking vulnerable to the quick breaks brought about by long diagonal passes for Robben and Didier Drogba. Drogba, latching on to a straighter ball from Lampard, dinked the ball into the side-netting and Paul Robinson pushed away Damien Duff's drive.

Cech matched that on the one occasion he was tested, not daring to try catching a swerving effort by Defoe, who had drifted inside three defenders. But Lampard's goal took the steam out of Spurs for a while. A slight slackening of the fearsome pace early in the second half suited Chelsea, who would have profited from a Carrick error had Noureddine Naybet not pulled off his second outstanding tackle of the afternoon on Drogba, who then put a header narrowly over the bar from an excellent cross from Paulo Ferreira.

Spurs were closer when Smertin's knee diverted an inswinging corner by Defoe uncomfortably close to his own post. Carrick had two shots blocked after King began to lead from the front as Jol, looking for greater aerial strength, made his first change by putting Anthony Gardner in defence, and his second as Dean Marney, essentially an attacking midfielder, came on for the right-back Pamarot. Mourinho, always keen on having a good number of tall players on the pitch at any one time, responded by sending on the 6ft 3in Czech Jiri Jarosik for his Premiership debut to challenge King when necessary.

No further threat materialised from that quarter, and it was the visitors who scored again just before the finish. Eidur Gudjohnsen, the final substitute, went gliding past Gardner close to the byline and pulled the ball back for Lampard to hammer in. Had the Icelander done the same thing in added time, Cole could have scored a third but he tried a chip that missed the far post. "The celebrations at the end told you how much it meant to us as a club," Clarke said.