27/11/2004  Charlton 0 Chelsea 4
 
Chelsea went five points clear at the top of the Barclays Premiership after destroying Charlton with a superb second-half display.

Republic of Ireland international Damien Duff had given Chelsea the perfect start when he latched on to Eidur Gudjohnsen's through ball to fire past Dean Kiely from an acute angle as early as the fourth minute.

And the league leaders put Charlton to the sword in the second period with skipper John Terry leading the onslaught. The England defender scored twice in three minutes straight after the re-start and leading scorer Gudjohnsen completed the rout with a fourth in the 58th minute as Chelsea put pressure on their nearest rivals Arsenal and Everton who both play on Sunday.

Charlton, who thumped Chelsea 4-2 at The Valley on Boxing Day last season, had been hoping to improve on a sequence that had seen them win just two out of their previous seven games before hostilities began.

But Chelsea are much changed, both in personnel and attitude, from the side that capitulated at The Valley last season and Duff's goal was the perfect start for the West Londoners. The Irishman kept his cool to hold off a late challenge from Paul Konchesky to score his second goal in as many Premiership games.

In the 22nd minute, the unmarked Ricardo Carvalho should have made it two for Chelsea but his free header from six yards out went inches over the crossbar.

Alan Curbishley's men lacked the guile and creativity to worry the Premiership leaders and their sporadic forays into the Chelsea half met with little success. But they came close to levelling the scores in the 37th minute when Jonathan Fortune's header caused confusion in the Blues defence and Carvalho headed the ball against his own left-hand upright.

The response was swift from Chelsea and moments later Arjen Robben forced a fine save from Kiely with a thumping left-foot volley.

However, Chelsea took just two minutes of the second half to increase their lead when skipper Terry rose unchallenged to head home Duff's corner. Mourinho's side were now well into their attacking groove and a minute later they won another corner.

This time Charlton managed to clear their lines only for the ball to run loose to Frank Lampard whose 22-yard shot was well held by Kiely.

In the 49th minute, Chelsea scored from another Duff corner and again it was Terry who hit the net.

This time Duff's delivery found Carvalho at the far post and when he cleverly headed the ball back into the six-yard box, Terry's outstretched foot sent the ball over the line despite the valiant efforts of Kiely to keep it out.

It was now all one-way traffic and Charlton were unable to stem the blue tide. Gudjohnsen came close to making it four but just failed to connect with Robben's cross as Charlton's defence left more holes for the league leaders to exploit at will.

However, the Icelandic striker finally got himself on the scoresheet after 58 minutes when Chelsea added a fourth. This time Gudjohnsen took advantage of a superb ball from Lampard to fire past Kiely. But it was also to be his last contribution of note as two minutes later he made way for Didier Drogba's Premiership return.

Charlton substitute Jason Euell had a chance to reduce the arrears in the 78th minute but his turn and shot from eight yards was well saved by the largely redundant Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.

Mourinho's side were now turning the game into a version of shooting practice but could not add to their tally. As the game wore on, Charlton toiled in vain to find a way through a Chelsea defence that positively revelled in blocking every attempt by the home strikers to get a shot on target.

Chelsea's performance had been sublime in the second period and Lampard almost crowned a glorious afternoon with a fifth but Kiely blocked his fierce shot two minutes from time.

The Charlton fans began to drift away long before the final whistle as Chelsea focused on increasing their goal tally. But despite having almost total possession, they could had to settle for another four goal haul away from home and a better grip on the lead at the Premiership summit.