30/10/2004  West Brom 1 Chelsea 4
 
Frank Lampard coaxed Chelsea out of second gear and level with Arsenal at the top of the Barclays Premiership after a second-half rout of managerless West Brom at The Hawthorns.

The England midfielder provided the leadership necessary for Jose Mourinho's men to recover from a sluggish start and ultimately cruise home.

The Baggies had given as good as they got in a low-key first half and were unfortunate to fall behind to William Gallas' injury-time strike.

The home side had responded well to the midweek loss of boss Gary Megson with Zoltan Gera again outstanding.

But Eidur Gudjohnsen increased the advantage six minutes after the break and although Gera temporarily reduced the deficit, Damien Duff and Lampard steered the visitors home.

Albion's caretaker boss Frank Burrows will not be too hard on his players as he always knew he would have his work cut out following his side's dismal defeat at Crystal Palace last week.

But he must have taken plenty of encouragement from the first-half show in which the Baggies often had Chelsea's multi-millionaires on the back foot.

Mourinho's men had to settle for handful of half-chances as their front men failed to fire.

Albion's ambition came mainly through Hungarian midfielder Gera, whose first effort in the second minute was blocked by John Terry.

Gera and Robert Earnshaw each came close in a scramble in the visitors' box.

Chelsea's early threat came through Lampard, who flashed an early shot wide, while Russell Hoult punched away a fine deep cross from Duff.

Kanu continued to provide a nuisance to the Chelsea defence and might have gota finishing touch in front of goal in the 14th minute from Riccardo Scimeca's cross.

Earnshaw also tried to break the deadlock from long range but for all his fighting spirit Albion's record signing never really looked likely to find the net.

Gudjohnsen set up Cole for a stinging effort from the edge of the box which was blocked by a pair of Albion defenders.

Then Duff's corner from the right was missed by Lampard and Gudjohnsen as it squirted through the box and the home side survived.

A game yet to catch fire might have done so if Earnshaw had taken advantage of Gallas' mistake and found a way past Petr Cech.

Terry headed straight into Hoult's arms but when it seemed a half-time deadlock was inevitable up popped Gallas in injury-time to poke home after Terry headed down Lampard's corner.

Presumably dissatisfied with his side's showing, Mourinho made two half-time changes with Ricardo Carvalho replacing Wayne Bridge and Arjen Robben on for the ineffective Joe Cole.

Gallas almost added to his tally with a long-range effort following a mistake by Jonathan Greening in the centre-circle.

Instead it was Gudjohnsen who added to his previous week's hat-trick with a superb diving header from Duff's deep left-wing cross.

Albion showed commendable spirit to seize a goal back three minutes later when Kanu's shot was parried by Cech and Gera coolly swept home the rebound from just inside the box.

But when the momentum could have swung in favour of the home side instead they shot themselves in the foot.

Hesitation between Gera and Andy Johnson on the edge of the Chelsea box produced a quick counter-attack from Lampard, who raced forward and laid the ball off for Duff to knock home under Hoult.

Kanu headed into Cech's arms from Greening's cross as the Baggies refused to accept their fate.

But their attacks left bigger spaces at the back and Gudjohnsen was one of a number who could have grabbed a fourth following a cross from Lampard.

It was well and truly over eight minutes from time when Robben found Lampard and the midfielder hit a long-range shot which crept into the corner of the net past Hoult.