Chelsea put down their marker in the race for the Premier League title as four goals from Frank Lampard led a 7-1 rout of Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
His goals were added to by Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou, while Villa's lone strike came as an equaliser from John Carew.
On 14 minutes, after sustained possession by the home side, a flashing drive by Lampard 30 yards out was on target but Brad Friedel handled it easily.
But a minute later and the England midfielder made no mistake. He side-footed home a right-footer from eight yards out after a Malouda low, left-wing drive arrowed across the Villa defence. Lampard was unmarked at the far post to put the Blues 1-0 up.
Chelsea's lead lasted 14 minutes. A right-footed drive by Ashley Young caught left-back Yury Zhirkov napping and Carew snuck up on his blind slide to lash the ball past Petr Cech from six yards.
Two minutes before the break and Chelsea breached the visitors' stubborn defence. A deft pass by Malouda found the in-running Zhirkov. The Russian was then tripped by James Collins inside the area.
Up stepped Lampard to blast home an unstoppable right-footed penalty.
It took 12 minutes of the second half for the Blues to extend their lead.
Excellent build-up play saw Deco bisect the Villa defence allowing Zhirkov, on the left, to drive the ball into the middle of the Villa six-yard box where Malouda volleyed home a low drive past the despairing dive of Friedel.
The game was all but over on 61 minutes as Lampard side-footed another penalty past Friedel for his hat-trick. This time Zhirkov had been up-ended by Richard Dunne.
That goal was Lampard's 150th goal for the Blues, putting him equal third in the Chelsea all-time goal-scoring record, level with Roy Bentley and Peter Osgood.
Malouda then got into the act on 68 minutes to notch up the fifth. This time Lampard was the provider as the French winger curled a simple right-footed effort past Friedel from eight yards out.
With eight minutes remaining, substitute Kalou got in on the act. Picking up a simple pass from Anelka, the Ivorian slotted home a low right-footed drive past Friedel from just inside the Villa box.
With seconds remaining of stoppage time, Lampard hit his fourth and Chelsea's seventh, as his low right-footed drive from just inside the area beat Friedel.
Source: DSG
