Ancelotti and Lampard agree Chelsea are not playing well – but we're still four points clear!

The Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard admits that he didn’t get the performance he wanted to see from the team at West Ham yesterday, and in the end he was just glad that the lead at the top of the Premiership was maintained.

“We wanted to start well and start sharp, but we didn’t do that,” said Lampard. “We gave West Ham a chance to build a head of steam and we made it tough for ourselves.

“We’re four points clear, so we have to take the positives, but we do have to get back to playing how we were a few games ago.”

Ancelotti agreed with the England star, but was also happy that Chelsea go into Christmas with a four point lead.

“This period is not easy, every three days to play with pressure on games, it is not easy to prepare well. Now we have one week to prepare for the next game and I think we will improve,” said Ancelotti.

“For every team in this period, it is not the best period. There are a lot of competitive games, and if you play every three days it’s not easy. It is not our best moment but it is not so bad, we have four points at the top of the list and we can have a good Christmas.

“One more point is four points ahead, which is good because we didn’t play a good match. Second half was better, we met a strong, hard team, who played with pressure on the midfield, it was a tough game. We didn’t do well the first half. West Ham played well with character and determination and some good ideas.”

Even the West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola said that Chelsea were going through a bad time, but he still thought they were good enough to win the title.

“I don’t think Chelsea is in the best moment but they are not the only one, and they have what it takes to win the title,’ he said.

“A little bit, I think no one could have said anything if we took all three points, but the attitude, passion and courage was remarkable for me. It’s a very good starting point,’ he said. ‘We knew the team we had in front of us was better than us, so we had to do something different. We had the crowd on our side and it makes such a difference.”