18/12/2004  Chelsea 4 Norwich 0
 
Chelsea took advantage of some early Christmas gifts from struggling Norwich to go six points clear at the top of the Barclays Premiership.

The game was over by half-time as Chelsea stormed into a three-goal lead - helped by two dreadful errors from City's Thomas Helveg and Gary Doherty.

Two wayward passes resulted in goals for Jose Mourinho's impressive side - the first coming after just 10 minutes from the boot of Damien Duff.

The Republic of Ireland international opened the scoring for the fifth time in nine games for the Londoners when he gratefully accepted Helveg's misplaced pass and ran on to fire beyond Robert Green in the city goal.

Two minutes earlier, Norwich had been dealt a severe blow when in-form striker Mathias Svensson had to be replaced by Leon McKenzie.

The City striker appeared to injure his foot in a challenge with Terry and immediately signalled to the bench that he could not continue.

Marc Edworthy was finding it difficult to contain Chelsea's Arjen Robben and twice in a matter of minutes the defender had to haul down the flying Dutchman to stop his progress down the left-flank.

Chelsea should have had a penalty in the 19th minute when McKenzie clearly handled the ball in the area but referee Mike Dean waved play-on to the dismay of Mourinho's men.

The home side continued to dominate the game and were two in front in the 33rd minute when England midfielder Frank Lampard took advantage of another Norwich error to fire home from 20-yards.

This time Gary Doherty was the culprit for the Canaries and once again Chelsea made sure they profited from City's benevolence.

Doherty's pass out of defence went straight to Robben and the Dutchman's clever ball found Lampard with time and space some 30 yards out.

The Chelsea midfielder made no mistake once he got within his normal shooting range and his fierce effort fizzed into the top corner.

The goal took the sting out of a Norwich side that had been enjoying a brief renaissance prior to Lampard's stunner and it was only a matter of time before the rampant Blues added to their tally.

Robben was enjoying another scintillating afternoon at the expense of the City defence and Chelsea's third was started and finished by unstoppable Dutchman.

In the 43rd minute, he broke clear on the left and fed Lampard with an incisive pass which the midfielder then helped on to Tiago on the edge of the penalty area.

Robben continued to advance towards the edge of the box and, when Tiago found him with a delightful first-time pass, the Dutchman ran on to the ball and fired it with some force beyond the despairing Green.

It was vintage Chelsea and Norwich clearly had no answer to the rampaging Robben and Duff.

The Canaries knew it would be a case of damage limitation in the second period and some of Chelsea's football was a delight to watch as they opened up a jittery Norwich defence time and again.

In the 55th minute, Lampard was just too high with a left-foot volley from Duff's corner but, to add to Nigel Worthington's problems, Mourinho introduced Didier Drogba into the action on the hour as a straight replacement for Gudjohnsen in attack.

Duff and Robben regularly switched flanks but the outcome was the same for City's beleaguered rearguard.

In the 63rd minute, Robben sent Drogba clear inside the City penalty area with a delightful reverse pass but the striker's shot was beaten away for a corner by Green.

Two minutes later another mazy run and 20-yard shot from the right-flank by Robben saw Green forced to retrieve the ball at the second attempt.

Seconds later Robben was at it again and Green once more thwarted the Dutchman as he homed in on goal.

In the 67th minute, Lampard, under pressure from Charlton, sliced a real chance wide of the left-hand post from eight yards after he had worked an opening via a swift passing interchange with Tiago.

Robben received a well-earned standing ovation when he was replaced by Mateja Kezman in the 77th minute.

The Dutchman's performance had enthralled the Chelsea fans and mesmerised the City defence all afternoon. Drogba then completed the scoring for the leaders in the 82nd minute when he rose higher than Fleming from Duff's corner to send a powerful header into the bottom corner.