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FRANK LAMPARD is back in Andre Villas-Boas' good books after he downed Sunderland. Lamps knew little about his goal after the ball bounced off him and into the net after Fernando Torres' sublime acrobatic kick had thumped back off the bar. But Blues boss AVB will care little for the technique after the England star's strike made it three straight wins in 2012. Villas-Boas insisted earlier in the week that he has no problem with Lampard despite the player seemingly falling out of favour with the Portuguese. The Stamford Bridge chief refused to get carried away with the goal celebration. But Lampard's form is clearly winning AVB over. Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief inside the opening five minutes when Stephane Stephane Sessegnon was allowed to run through unchallenged, with Jose Bosingwa just doing enough to prevent James McClean pouncing. David Luiz was booked for a poor challenge on Nicklas Bendtner, with Petr Cech fisting away Sebastian Larsson's powerful free-kick. Lampard had already seen a shot blocked at the other end and Fernando Torres flicked a header wide before the pair inadvertently combined to give Chelsea a spectacular 13th-minute lead. Torres smashed a sensational volley against the crossbar and the ball careered back off Lampard and into the net. Terrible defending from a corner then forced Larsson to clear Lampard's hooked volley off the line as the home side held sway. Phil Bardsley blocked a header from Torres, who was being given vocal backing by the Stamford Bridge crowd. But they were almost silenced 10 minutes before half-time when Bendtner dragged Sessegnon's pass inches wide with Cech beaten. Torres did the same at the other end after a neat turn 20 yards out before leaving Matthew Kilgallon in a heap following a seemingly innocuous aerial challenge. Kilgallon stayed down and was eventually carried off on a stretcher in stoppage time, with Michael Turner coming on. Sessegnon fired an early warning shot after the break when he drilled a volley straight at Cech. Simon Mignolet kept out Torres' shot from a tight angle, Juan Mata volleyed the resulting corner over the top and Ramires failed to capitalise when Mignolet spilt Ashley Cole's cross. Torres was convinced he should have had a penalty after going down under John O'Shea's challenge. Bendtner thought the same at the other end seconds later after being bundled over by Cole but referee Phil Dowd disagreed on both counts. He had no hesitation whistling and producing a yellow card when a frustrated Lee Cattermole clattered into Lampard as tempers frayed. David Vaughan flashed a 30-yard strike narrowly wide before McClean missed an open goal in the 63rd minute, stabbing wide after a brilliant run and cross from Larsson. Torres was denied another penalty claim when he was clearly tripped by Bardsley, Dowd rubbing salt into the wound by booking the striker. Luiz produced a vital interception to rob McClean before Sunderland withdrew Vaughan for Craig Gardner. Raul Meireles was soon cautioned for bringing down the new man, who was then joined on the field by Essien, with Lampard withdrawn. Michael Essien skidded a 30-yard drive wide before Sunderland threw on Connor Wickham for Kieran Richardson. Cole had to be alert to beat Bendtner to a cross as Sunderland poured forward in the final 10 minutes, during which Chelsea threw on Florent Malouda for Mata. Cech got away with flapping at a McClean cross either side of a Meireles chip tipped over by Mignolet and a horrible shank from the same player. Sunderland missed two glorious late chances to equalise, Gardner sidefooting wide after a great Sessegnon run and Bendtner lifting the ball over the bar with only Cech to beat.