In a water-logged Stamford Bridge, Chelsea kept pace, and their title hopes, alive with a 3-0 win over cross town rivals West Ham United in Saturday's late kick-off in the English Premier League.

Frank Lampard opened the scoring, Malouda ended it, but what Chelsea will celebrate is Fernando Torres' first goal for the club after coming on as a substitute for Didier Drogba.

West Ham did popse problems for the Blues in the first half, but a minute before the break Lampard, as he has so often done for them for a decade now, finished clinically after a late run to meet Ashely Cole's cross. He had another sitter when he was two yards away from goal with just a side-foot required, but the slippery conditions seemed to detract him as he missed his shot completely.

Robbie Keane had West Ham's best chances when he slipped behind the Chelsea defence, but he smashed his shot wide. Chelsea went close when Anelka had a shot cleared off the line. However, the highlight of the day came when Torres latched on to the ball and drove into the box. The water-logged patch slowed the ball down. But he stopped, and with his back to goal, he struck on the turn. The relief and happiness at the Bridge was evident as the entire Chelsea team met at the corner and celebrated with the Spaniard.

Torres was involved in the third goal as well, though inadvertently. He overhit a pass to Anelka, but it found Malouda outside the box, who ignored Torres' run and instead shot powerfully into the top corner.

At the end, it was a comfortable victory for Chelsea against a poor West Ham side. With four games remaining, Chelsea are second in the league, six points behind leaders Manchester United.