English pair return to form

Chelsea FC 4-2 Blackburn Rovers FC

Chelsea returned to winning ways on Saturday after a disappointing week, but still showed signs of fragility in a tough encounter against Blackburn Rovers FC. Didier Drogba got the Premiership leaders off to a perfect start, heading in a Frank Lampard cross on nine minutes, before Lampard made it two from the spot four minutes later. But Blackburn responded as Craig Bellamy dispatched a penalty of his own, then levelled just before the break following an error by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Lampard again came to the London side's rescue, scoring his tenth league goal of the season just after the hour before Joe Cole made the points safe. But it was Lampard for whom Chelsea manager José Mourinho reserved his praise, saying: "[It seems] only English people recognise what this player is. He was the best player in the Premiership last season. You have some great players in the world but they play one game a month. This player is top in every game."

Three days after a much-changed side was knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by Charlton Athletic FC, Mourinho restored the same starting eleven that secured the club's last Premiership win against Bolton Wanderers FC. Asier Del Horno and William Gallas returned to the full-back positions, while Claude Makelele came back into his midfield anchor role. Damien Duff did not play but should be fit to face Betis on Tuesday.

Real Betis Balompié 0-2 Real Madrid CF

Betis's troubles worsened as they suffered a fourth consecutive defeat, 2-0 at home against Real Madrid CF.

Midfield player Marcos Assunção joined a mounting injury list including Miguel Ángel Lozano (knee), Óscar López (thigh), Luis Fernández (knee) and David Rivas. To further complicate matters, Joaquín Sánchez and Melli were suspended after being sent off in the 3-2 defeat by Villarreal CF on Wednesday.

The Seville outfit gave a good account of themselves but had no luck in front of goal. The closest they came was when Edu's header came back off the post late on. Robinho opened the scoring, firing low inside the post on the half hour, then an unmarked Álvaro Mejía, just on as a substitute, scored a looping header ten minutes from time. Betis goalkeeper Antonio Doblas kept the scoreline respectable with several fine saves.

Coach Llorenç Serra Ferrer tried to be positive, and said: "Today we were without six or seven first team players, but we must learn to play with a weakened team as the extra European games are taking their toll. We have not lost our faith or excitement; maybe we were unlucky as we had 20 chances but were unable to convert them into goals".

Liverpool FC 2-0 West Ham United FC

Goals from Xabi Alonso and Boudewijn Zenden on Saturday helped Liverpool to seal their third Premiership win of the season and climb into mid-table. The victory eased the pressure on manager Rafael Benítez, who had watched his side lose 2-1 to Crystal Palace FC in the League Cup the previous Wednesday.

Spanish international midfield player Alonso opened the scoring with a long-range effort that took a slight deflection off West Ham United FC defender Tomás Řepka. The home side had several chances to go further in front, but Sami Hyypiä saw his effort cleared off the line and Fernando Morientes failed to convert a free header. Substitute Zenden finally wrapped up the points with an angled drive that went in off the post ten minutes from time.

Benítez abandoned his 4-2-3-1 formation to employ both Djibril Cissé and Fernando Morientes as strikers, while leaving Peter Crouch on the bench. John Arne Riise dropped back into the left side of defence while Luis García and captain Steven Gerrard played on the left and right sides of midfield respectively.

"The team played well, they were organised and we kept a clean sheet which was good. We have done the things people asked us to do, we played good football and scored two good goals," said Benítez.

KSC Lokeren OV 2-2 RSC Anderlecht

Anderlecht were denied all three points by Lokeren in a frantic finish at the Daknam. The visitors took the lead after half an hour when Swedish international Christian Wilhelmsson made a superb run and cross down the right wing and Serhat Akin converted for his third goal in two matches.

João Carlos levelled on 63 minutes after latching on to Hakim Bouchouari's assist. Five minutes from time Anderlecht looked to have snatched victory when Wilhelmsson and Serhat again combined to good effect, with the Swede providing an accurate finish. But there was still time for Lokeren to salvage a draw, with Mamadou Diallo finding the net from a Stepjan Jukić free-kick.

Anthony Vanden Borre (hamstring), Bart Goor (shoulder) and Vincent Kompany (back) all missed out for Anderlecht, while Hannu Tihinen (thigh), Roland Juhász (foot), Oleg Iachtchouk (knee) and Jonathan Legear (hamstring) are back in training but lack match practice.

Coach Franky Vercauteren said: "When you take a 2-1 lead you just have to stay sharp. But they failed to mark their men tightly and made a stupid mistake to allow the equaliser. That is not a matter of mentality, but of football intelligence. A pity, because in the first half we played our best 40 minutes away from home all season."