Frank Lampard tasted fresh freedom, scored his first goals for ten league matches and reignited his ‘bromance’ with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

As for Sam Allardyce, there was no outward display of affection towards any of the West Ham players who underperformed for him, becausehe says ‘all players ever do is think of themselves’. And his relationship with Joe Cole, substituted inside 40 minutes, seems to have hit a very rocky patch. First to the messages of love exchanged between Lampard and Mourinho.

The 35-year-old midfielder ended a ten-goal scoring drought, the longest of his career in the top flight, to seal only Chelsea’s second away win of the season with two goals — making it five in as many league games against his old club.

Released from the shackles of defensive responsibility, he responded by taking the pressure off a man he clearly adores. Lampard said: ‘We knew if we’d thrown away any more silly points we’d be out of the title race, so I’m very pleased to be part of this win.

‘I’ve been playing a holding role of late but I’ll play anywhere for this manager. Once we were ahead, we were superb.’

Chelsea led thanks to Lampard’s 21st-minute penalty, fired past Jussi Jaaskelainen with disdain. Perhaps he shared Mourinho’s view at the time, because his manager had been bending the ears of any official who would listen, insisting that Jaaskelainen should have been sent off for bringing down Oscar.

Unusually for Mourinho, he had relented by the time he voiced his opinions to the media, insisting that, although he thought it had ‘possibly’ been a red card, he was by then ‘happy’ to leave the ultimate judgement to referee Chris Foy. It might have been different if his team had lost.

But by then Oscar had skipped through to slot Chelsea’s second, released by a magical flick from Eden Hazard. Then, with eight minutes, left Lampard arrived on the edge of the area to sweep home a typically feisty finish and complete Mourinho’s joy. No wonder we were treated to the following outpouring of love. Mourinho said of Lampard: ‘I think he’s in a moment when he has nothing to prove to you, the fans, to me or to himself.

‘He just needs to enjoy the last years of his career, try to play the maximum he can, try to score, because it was always part of his DNA as a player before.

‘I was his manager in the best period of his career possibly, and I am here to enjoy the last years of his career.’ That is the kind of praise you receive when you have saved your manager from further embarrassment, because, as Mourinho had already pointed out, ‘a third game without a win would not have been acceptable’.

Allardyce was unable to feel a similar glow when he talked about the substitution of Joe Cole. It was Cole’s display of frustration, as he took off his shirt and disappeared down the tunnel, which prompted some cold-hearted remarks from Big Sam.

‘Every player is frustrated because all every player ever does is think about themselves. I have to think about the bigger picture. If he’s frustrated then fine, next time he gets a chance he’s going to play so well for me that the last thing I can do is substitute him. If he doesn’t play quite as well and I think I need to take Joe Cole off, I’ll do it.’ Allardyce clearly did not see Cole as a threat to Mourinho’s men, even though the former Chelsea midfielder almost scored early on, seeing his shot blocked.

Allardyce added: ‘I brought my captain Kevin Nolan off too because I didn’t think he drove the team on as well as he normally does.’

Modibo Maiga missed a point-blank chance to put West Ham back in the game after Guy Demel had sent in a dangerous low cross.

Allardyce sounds distraught and needs wins quickly, now that the fans are booing. ‘Our world has been turned upside down because last season we lost only four games at home in the entire season. This year we’ve already lost four at home so we’ve lost our fortress,’ he said.

Many more public attacks like this and Allardyce might risk losing the dressing room too. No danger of that for Mourinho.

—Daily Mail