Lamps shining out: Frank fires four to keep Grant believing in title

For that, he has Frank Lampard to thank. Left out of the side beaten by Championship strugglers Barnsley in the FA Cup quarterfinal last week , the Chelsea midfielder was restored to the team and responded in quite remarkable fashion.

He scored four times, admittedly against the worst team ever to play in the Barclays Premier League (© Paul Jewell), as Chelsea began what Grant optimistically believes is a charge towards the title.

They eventually rattled in six, cuffing Jewell's pathetic side aside with astonishing ease, to move within five points of leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.

Lampard pointed to the stands after each of his goals. Perhaps he would have been better off pointing at the manager.

At least the captain called it correctly. 'The result and the performance at Barnsley was not acceptable,' wrote John Terry in last night's programme notes. 'Everyone in the team must take their fair share of responsibility.'

Everyone, it appears, except the manager. Grant ignored the worst Chelsea performance in recent memory in his typically uninspiring address to the supporters and chose, instead, to thank them for travelling to South Yorkshire.

The official line is that Lampard was injured last weekend. The jungle drums suggest he would have been the first name on the team sheet if it had been a match Chelsea believed was in the balance.

This one never was. From the moment Lampard scored from the spot after 28 minutes, the game was beyond this desperate Derby side.

Why wait another nine games before they are booted back to the Championship? They should be sent back now. The industrious Kenny Miller aside, Derby were nothing short of a disgrace.

Chelsea scored again three minutes before the break when Carroll's dreadful clearance fell invitingly for Salomon Kalou to send a sweetly-taken half-volley into an empty net from 25 yards. They had a taste for it now.

Lampard converted Joe Cole's cross on 57 minutes, and the match ball was his when Carroll palmed Nicolas Anelka's effort into his path nine minutes later.

By then, Cole had scored the goal his incisive performance deserved in the 64th minute, but Lampard left an indelible mark on the game when his left-foot strike streaked past Carroll.

Is he sitting out Sunderland on Saturday then, Avram? 'He has scored over 100 goals for Chelsea and now his target is 150,' said Grant. 'I am sure he can do it.'

Much depends on whether Lampard's long-running contract dispute can be resolved. He scored the third hat-trick of his Chelsea career last night, but this was his first in the Premier League. A class act, he remains an important cog.

'Negotiations are not my area, but the club want Frank to stay and Frank wants to stay,' added Grant.

'He is a very important member of the team and he can always make a difference.'

Last night, Lampard was the difference and Chelsea finished this game playing something resembling 4-2-4 — all-out attack against a team who are out of time.

'I might not bother turning up on Saturday for Manchester United,' admitted Jewell. 'We were outclassed, but at least that means there is one less game to play. 'Once again, the supporters were our best player. I was squirming in my seat because this was heavyweights against ABA lightweights.

'The personnel will change next season, that is for sure. I didn't think a team could give in as easily as that. Not enough of this team has desire.'

Miller aside, none of them had it. David Jones, on as a late substitute, pulled a goal back for Derby, but the club are doomed.

They were blitzed at Stamford Bridge, brushed aside by a team that has been brooding ever since that embarrassing loss at Barnsley.

'We are still in with a chance of winning the major trophies,' claimed Grant. In that case, he had better win one of them.