Chelsea stayed in touch with the title race after an emphatic 4-0 drubbing of Leicester on Sunday ended a poor week for the big-spending club.
Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was called back into the starting 11 and responded with his side’s first two goals, Adrian Mutu ended a 13-game scoring drought with the third goal and Celestine Babayaro rounded off the job.
The victory left Chelsea four points behind Arsenal and Manchester United, although United were playing Newcastle later on Sunday.
Chelsea tore into the home side from the start, with Eidur Gudjohnsen slipping a pass to Hasselbaink but he hesitated before shooting and goalkeeper Ian Walker was able to block the shot.
Just 11 minutes had gone when when Joe Cole pulled the ball back for Hasselbaink to back-heel the ball audaciously into the Leicester net.
The Dutch striker needed a slice of luck for his second goal as he curled a 25-yard free kick round the wall and saw it change course and fly past Walker after deflecting off Nikos Dabizas’s head.
Leicester’s Andy Impey almost scored into his own net just before the break and Walker had to be at his best to stop Claude Makelele’s rasping shot.
It was the turn of Chelsea ‘keeper Carlo Cudicini to leap into action after the break as he denied Callum Davidson and Marcus Bent.
John Terry, in his 100th appearance for the club, headed off the Chelsea goalline during Leicester’s mini-revival.
But it could not last for long and the side struggling against relegation crumbled in the final minutes.
Romanian international Mutu came off the subs’ bench finally to score with a swerving effort from outside the penalty area and Babayaro pounced on a mistake to slam home the fourth goal with an angled shot.
The final whistle soon sounded on a victory that will help Chelsea recover from their midweek home defeat by Liverpool and a poor stalemate with First Division Watford in the FA Cup, not to mention their League Cup exit. — Sapa-AFP