Chelsea sink Bournemouth to give Frank Lampard win at last

Frank Lampard was unmoved when Conor Gallagher opened the scoring but Chelsea’s interim manager allowed himself the smallest of celebrations when João Félix stroked in Chelsea’s third goal with four minutes of normal time left to play. Lampard clenched both fists and his assistant, Joe Edwards, gave him a quick embrace. Moments after the final whistle Lampard walked over to the away supporters who bookended this win by singing his name and offered them a thumbs-up.

It has been a testing few weeks for Lampard, who had been ridiculed after arriving in Dorset on the back of six straight defeats. How this was a welcome victory, their first in 10 attempts, even if it was not exactly convincing . Benoit Badiashile poked Chelsea in front on 82 minutes before the substitute Félix completed the scoring on a dank afternoon in Bournemouth.

Changes were inevitable for Chelsea given the manner of their defeat at Arsenal in midweek, with Badiashile one of five players promoted to Lampard’s starting lineup. Wesley Fofana was missing with a hamstring complaint and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left out altogether. Mykhailo Mudryk also started but the £89m signing’s only memorable contribution was a dive that did not impress the referee, John Brooks, who gave the Ukraine forward a yellow card for his theatrics. Kai Havertz was equally ineffective. Only Badiashile, Thiago Silva, Noni Madueke and Gallagher, who gave Chelsea the lead with a smart header, truly came out of this game with any credit.

Gallagher’s ninth-minute header was the cue for Chelsea’s supporters to launch into a series of sarcastic chants. “We are staying up,” they sang, before a couple of choruses about scoring and winning away. April was so bleak for Chelsea – they