Petr Cech's superb penalty stop from Mark Noble gave Chelsea all three points at Upton Park and provided a welcome boost to the visitors, who face the rather more daunting challenge of Barcelona in the semi final of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Salomon Kalou's 55th minute opener for Chelsea followed excellent work by Frank Lampard, who responded to the inevitable abuse with the equally inevitable solid performance. I doubt either of these things will ever change.

The Hammers created few chances, and Kalou's shirt pull on Illunga that resulted in the penalty seemed to have given the Hammers a chance to get something from a match they always looked second best in. However, Cech correctly guessed where Noble would place his penalty, although the midfielder couldn't be blamed for the miss as most keeper's probably wouldn't have got anything on it at all.

The loss meant that Fulham leap-frogged over West Ham in the race for the Europa League spot and left fans looking for the days other Chelsea related news to lighten the mood, as it was revealed that the Blues favourite son Gianfranco Zola has signed an extension to his contract and Sex-Chelsea defender Steve Clarke is likely to follow in the next couple of days.

Hopefully, with a full season behind him next term, Zola, who has managed to restore the club's reputation for playing exciting, attacking football, can turn his mind to ensuring that, if we have to lose to Chelsea and their ilk, we can at least go down fighting.