Frank Lampard scored from the penalty spot to restore Chelsea's three-point lead in the Premier League with a 2-1 home win against bottom club Portsmouth Wednesday. Nicolas Anelka's first-half strike and a second-half penalty from Frank Lampard secured the first win in five matches for Carlo Ancelotti's side and ensured it was an unhappy return to Stamford Bridge for former Chelsea boss Avram Grant, now the manager of Portsmouth. Arsenal's hopes of catching the leader suffered a setback when it was held to a 1-1 draw at Burnley, but it was a better night for its north London rival Tottenham, which claimed an emphatic 3-0 win over Manchester City at White Hart Lane. Liverpool bounced back from its weekend defeat at the hands of Arsenal by defeating Wigan 2-1 at Anfield. Grant, who was sacked as Chelsea boss after its 2008 Champions League final defeat to Manchester United, saw his new charges completely outclassed in the opening period and it was remarkable that the home side only went in at the interval with a one-goal advantage. That came courtesy of a 23rd-minute strike from Anelka following good approach work by Brazilian defender Alex. But within six minutes of the restart, Portsmouth was back on level terms. Frederic Piquionne fired home from 10 yards after Jamie O'Hara's free-kick had ricocheted through the wall and into the path of the Pompey striker. Chelsea did not look like re-establishing its lead but the league leader was thrown a lifeline when Mark Wilson pulled down Branislav Ivanovic in the area and Lampard thumped in the penalty with 11 minutes left. Chelsea has 40 points, United 37 and Arsenal 32. Wolves in trouble The Premier League has asked Wolverhampton manager Mick McCarthy to explain why he selected a heavily weakened team that lost to Manchester United. McCarthy made 10 changes to the side that beat Tottenham last week for Tuesday's 3-0 loss at United. Only goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was retained. McCarthy said he was giving his first-choice players a rest ahead of a more winnable Premier League match against Burnley Sunday. Inter in Cup quarters In Milan, Wesley Sneijder's second-half goal sent Inter Milan into the Italian Cup quarterfinals with a 1-0 home win over Livorno Wednesday. The Serie A leader, which will meet Juventus or Napoli in the next round, had two decent chances in the first half but the visitor deserved to be level at the break. Dutch playmaker Sneijder, who has not lost in an Inter shirt since signing from Real Madrid in August but was sent off in the 1-1 Serie A draw at Atalanta Sunday, then fired in on 60 minutes to break the deadlock. Coach Jose Mourinho rotated his squad slightly but still included some of his big hitters as he battles to fight off a storm over his verbal abuse of a journalist Sunday. Inter was playing in its first game of this season's Cup, a much-maligned competition which fails to excite the Italian public.
