LONDON: Golden oldies Frank Lampard and John Terry inspired Chelsea to a 3-1 win at Blackpool Monday to keep alive the club's outside hopes of retaining its Premier League crown. Skipper Terry, 30, opened the scoring with a first-half header before vice captain Lampard, 32, ended relegation-threatened Blackpool's resistance with two goals in the second period, one a penalty. Jason Puncheon, who hit the post for the home team in the first half, pulled a goal back with four minutes to go when he drilled a low left-foot shot into the corner of the net. Chelsea is fourth in the table with 51 points from 28 matches. It is nine points behind Manchester United, which lost at Liverpool Sunday, but has a game in hand and visits the Old Trafford side later in the season. Deportivo beats Sociedad Deportivo La Coruna scored once in each half to beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in the Spanish league Monday for its first win in four weeks. Ivan “Riki” Sanchez-Rico put Deportivo in front in the 41st minute, spinning inside the area before firing a left-footed shot into the net. Adrian Lopez shot under goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to double the hosts' lead in the 57th. Down two goals, Sociedad played its best football in the match, allowing striker Imanol Agirretxe to head home in the 65th from Xabi Prieto's ninth assist of the season. Deportivo climbed five points clear of the drop zone. At the weekend, Barcelona beat Zaragoza 1-0 to retain its seven-point lead over second-place Real Madrid, which won 3-1 at Racing Santander. Escudero dies Atletico Madrid says Adrian Escudero, the Spanish club's all-time leading goalscorer, has died. He was 83. Escudero joined the Spanish capital club in 1945 as a 17-year-old and eventually helped it to consecutive league trophies in 1950 and ‘51. Escudero retired in 1958 after scoring 150 goals in 287 topflight games, while also scoring once from three appearances for Spain. Loew in frame for Bayern Germany coach Joachim Loew has emerged as a possible replacement for Bayern Munich boss Louis van Gaal when the latter leaves at the end of the season, one year early, press reports said Tuesday. Mass circulation Bild, who broke the story of Van Gaal's premature departure on Monday, said that contact has already been established between Bayern bosses and Loew, who guided Germany to third place in the 2010 World Cup. Loew, however, has pledged his commitment to the national side until at least the end of the European Championships in June-July 2012 whereas Bayern need someone to take over at the end of this season.
