As he turns 43, let us look back to the day when Frank Lampard scored twice, and won Chelsea the 2004-05 Premier League title.
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Frank Lampard is a name synonymous with Premier League side Chelsea FC. The Englishman is the club’s all-time top goalscorer – no mean feat when you consider he was not a forward. His goals meant a lot to Chelsea fans, as a good number of them came at moments when the side needed it the most. In one sense, the midfielder is almost defined by the goals he scored. Indeed, he himself subsequently admitted that without his goal-scoring prowess he would just be a regular boy from Romford. Instead, he wrote himself into Chelsea lore by finding the back of the net amazingly regularly.
The son of Frank Lampard Sr, himself a distinguished footballer with England and West Ham, Lampard Jr. was born on this day in 1978.
As he turns 43, let us look back to the day when Lampard scored twice, and won Chelsea the 2004-05 Premier League title in the process.
Chelsea in 2005 were a team on the up. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich had bought the club and was willing to spend big money. His first major move at the end of the 2003-04 season was to sack Claudio Ranieri.
His replacement? Jose Mourinho, the self-anointed ‘Special One’ and fresh off winning the Champions League with an unfancied Porto side.
People expected Chelsea to maybe compete for the Premier League, but merely ‘competing’ wasn’t on the agenda. Mourinho’s Chelsea were ruthless, winning game after game and establishing a healthy lead atop the table.
As such, Chelsea travelled to Bolton on April 30, 2005 knowing a win would secure the title. However, no one expected an easy ride at the Reebok Stadium.
This Bolton side, under Sam Allardyce, were a force to reckon with on their day. So if Chelsea were to seal the title win, they would have to play exceptionally well.
Indeed, the first 45 minutes were pretty much all Bolton. It’s no surprise that under Allardyce, they were a team good in the air and they proved it in that half.
Their route one football was both direct and effective, with Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech being forced into a number of good saves.
To make matters worse, Chelsea were non-existent in the attack. Didier Drogba spent more time feuding with Bolton’s back-line and the overall plan was disjointed.
Indeed, were it not for Cech as well as some ordinary finishing from Bolton’s forwards, they might well have had the lead. Instead, they found themselves in the midst of a cotroversial decision in the second half.
Chelsea’s Jiri Jarosik bundled into Fernando Hierro but the referee did not blow the whistle. Bolton players made their feelings clear to referee Steve Dunn, but play went on.
Lampard, who made a run from the deep, was on hand to score Chelsea’s first goal shortly thereafter. It was a sucker-punch, but Bolton players did themselves no favour by not playing to the whistle.
The second goal arrived a mere fifteen minutes later, although it must be said it was anything but easy. Bolton pushed hard for an equaliser, again forcing Cech into some top quality saves.
However, when a counter-attack from Chelsea saw Lampard one on one with the goalkeeper, there only seemed one result likely. Lampard, true to form, rolled the ball around Jussi Jaaskelainen and scored.
This sent the travelling Chelsea fans into a tizzy, who celebrated loudly and proudly. This was Chelsea’s first league title in exactly 50 years. And Frank Lampard was the man who sealed it.
The league title wasn’t their only trophy that season, as the Blues went on to win the League Cup too. The following year would see them retain their league title, beginning a cycle of success that carries on till this day.
Lampard’s career at the club lasted till 2014, and he even managed the side from 2019 till January 2021. His time as a manager had its ups and downs, but few can deny the impact he had at the club as a player.
And whatever happens in the future, few if any will forget that it was ‘Super Frank’ who kickstarted Chelsea’s title-winning times with his double against Bolton.
