Lampard unaffected by speculation over future

The 34-year-old is reportedly not going to have his contract renewed in the summer, but the England international showed his worth to the side again with two strikes in this win at Everton.

Having gone behind to Steven Pienaar’s effort barely two minutes into the game, Lampard pulled his side up to third place with goals either side of half-time.

“Lampard is a great player, a good professional, who is doing well for us and I will try to bring the best out of him until the end of the season,” said Benitez.

“He is one of the players who if he gets in the box he can be dangerous.

“He is under contract. He has shown his full commitment. He is a great player and my job is to keep him fit, happy and scoring goals. If he can score goals every game I’ll be pleased.”

A fourth successive league win ensured Chelsea finished 2012 in third place in the table, four points behind second-placed Manchester City and 11 behind leaders Manchester United, with a match in hand on both.

They became only the third team to win in the league at Goodison Park this year and the first since late March.

“It was a great win for us,” added Benitez. “The team showed their character and quality and although we made mistakes at the beginning the reaction was really good.

“We knew they could be tough but we had confidence in the players.”

Benitez also refused to comment on speculation the club had entered negotiations to sign Newcastle striker Demba Ba.

“We don’t talk about our business in public. My job is to prepare for the games, enjoy them if we win and then after they (the club) will let me know what is going to happen,” he said.

Everton manager David Moyes was frustrated his side had not taken at least a point from the game having gone ahead so early and then seen Nikica Jelavic hit the woodwork twice before missing a stoppage-time chance to snatch a draw.

“We’re not disappointed with the way we’ve played because we played really well and we’ve run the European champions really close, but we didn’t quite have enough in the end,” said Moyes.

“We had played well enough to get a second goal, but had been unfortunate, having shots (come) back off the woodwork.”