OKAY, SO THE FIRST CAME FROM A dubious penalty and the second was meant to be a cross, but the two goals scored by Frank Lampard against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday brought up his century in club football, 60 of which have been scored for Chelsea and all from midfield. He is also the top scorer in the Barclays Premiership this season with ten — two ahead of Ruud van Nistelrooy, with Thierry Henry nowhere.

Goals, of course, are not the only mark of a great midfield player and José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, pointed out that Lampard also excels at tackling, covering and passing, as well as possessing the stamina to cover every blade of grass in every match. His streak of consecutive Premiership appearances has reached 157, two short of David James’s record. “For me he is the best player in the world at the moment,” Mourinho said.

Although Lampard has been shortlisted for the European Footballer of the Year award and the Onze Mondial Europe team of the year, it was learning that Mourinho rated him the No 1 that mattered most. “Has he? Wow,” Lampard said. “Well, he’s the man I want to please more than anyone else, so I’m delighted he’s saying something like that about me.

“I feel I’m doing well at the moment, I’m very confident and he’s the man we work for. I’ve got a lot of belief in him and when he says things like that, I know he has the same belief in me.

“Winning either award would be a massive thrill for me. I’m just happy to be talked about among the names that are on the shortlist and among recent previous winners like Ronaldinho and Henry. I always want to score and I do tend to think like a striker. I beat up on myself if I miss chances or don’t get in the box to create openings. I don’t set targets, but I’m determined to stay out in front as long as I can.”

Chelsea also stayed out in front at the top of the Premiership, although they were far from perfect against Blackburn. The national day of celebration that Mourinho expects when they lose their first league match of the season has been postponed, but perhaps not indefinitely.

At 2-0 down to Didier Drogba’s header and Lampard’s penalty, Rovers drew level thanks to two errors by Peter Cech, normally the most reliable of goalkeepers. Craig Bellamy was the beneficiary with a penalty and a close-range header, becoming the first player to score twice against Mourinho’s team since Ronaldinho achieved the feat for Barcelona in the Champions League in March. It was also the first time that Chelsea had surrendered a two-goal advantage since a 2-2 draw against Bolton Wanderers a year ago, but Mourinho will keep faith with Cech for the Champions League match against Real Betis in Seville this week. “I never change a goalkeeper when he makes a mistake,” the Portuguese said.

Mourinho also said before the match that teams will need luck if they are to defeat his side, but Blackburn had none as Chelsea wrapped up the points. First Lampard’s free kick from the left missed all its intended targets and ended up in the net, then Joe Cole’s shot was deflected past Brad Friedel.

“It was a decent game and we’re disappointed that we didn’t defend balls into the box as well as we have done,” Mark Hughes, the Blackburn manager, said. “But we went 2-0 down and bounced straight back, so we will take positives from that.”