LAMPARD FURY AT ANOTHER VAR FARCE

FRANK LAMPARD launched a blistering attack on yet another VAR farce as blundering officials at Stockley Park allowed Giovani Lo Celso to escape with a ‘legbreaker’ of a tackle in Chelsea’s win over Tottenham.

Referee chiefs admitted they got it wrong by not convincing referee Michael Oliver to send off the Spurs midfielder for an X-rated stamp on Cesar Azpilicueta.

Referee Oliver had not even deemed Lo Celso’s horror challenge worthy of a yellow card and, after a lengthy review, VAR upheld his decision.

Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett insists VAR got it horribly wrong and Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the Premier League referees’ body, later also agreed that it should have been a red card.

But that admission did nothing to placate a fuming Lampard (right), who said: ‘To see it afterwards and saying they made a mistake is not good enough. They had a couple of minutes to look at it and they got it wrong.

‘I hate to call for red cards but that was a leg-breaker of a challenge.’

Jose Mourinho was more concerned about Spurs’ ongoing injury crisis, with Harry Kane among the many in his squad who are posted missing for one reason or another.

‘We had zero strikers on the pitch, zero strikers on the bench and zero strikers in the stand,’ said Mourinho.

He did not mention that he had left the team’s best attacking talent, Dele Alli, on the bench — but that did not fit the deprivation narrative.

Maybe Alli had exhausted himself by throwing a bottle and boot around after he was subbed against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night in the Champions League. The truth, of course, is that at this stage of the season every team is coping with injuries and if Spurs are struggling it is because of a lack of foresight from the manager and, more particularly, chairman Daniel Levy. Lest Mourinho forgets, Chelsea did not furnish Lampard with any reinforcements in January. Chelsea’s triumph represented a second successive win for Lampard over his old boss and the second time in a few days that Mourinho has been bested by a much younger manager.

Julian Nagelsmann masterminded Leipzig’s victory at Spurs. It happens increasingly often that Mourinho is made to look like a manager out of his time.

Chelsea’s success, courtesy of two fine goals by Olivier

Giroud and Marcos Alonso, arrested a run of four games without a victory and put a little daylight between them and those pursuing them. Antonio Rudiger’s late own goal mattered not a jot

Lampard’s men are now four points clear of Tottenham and Sheffield United as they sit in fourth place in the league table.