Essien scored a brace at Stamford Bridge to round off an outstanding display

By Sam Lyon

Chelsea ran riot to rout strugglers Wolves and retain a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

It was a stellar Blues display despite a host of absences, kick-started by Florent Malouda's 22-yard strike.

Michael Essien then grabbed two in 10 minutes, heading home unmarked and squeezing in from the edge of the area, before Joe Cole clipped in on the hour.

Wolves came closest when Petr Cech kept out Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's header, but in truth they could have lost by more.

The victory briefly extended Chelsea's lead at the top of the table to eight points thanks to Arsenal's defeat at Sunderland but Manchester United beat Everton 3-0 in the late match to close the gap.

However, Chelsea, even at this early stage, appear favourites to win their first championship since 2006.

Their excellent return of 33 points from a possible 39 has been borne out of a combination of silky attacks and sturdy defence - both of which were on display against Wolves.

In fact the clean sheet, the 10th straight shut-out at Stamford Bridge, saw Carlo Ancelotti's men equal the club record set way back in 1927.

As if Wolves needed any warning as to the size of the task at hand before kick-off, in their last outing Chelsea overcame champions Manchester United to maintain their 100% home record under Ancelotti.

However, with the Blues coming off the back of the international break with Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Deco, Michael Ballack and Ricardo Carvalho all unavailable, the visitors might have sniffed a chance of an upset.

Three goals in the opening 21 minutes put paid to that idea.

Malouda got the hosts up and running, latching on to Jody Craddock's tame clearance and then lashing a rocket into the roof of the net.

606: DEBATE Essien CAN play in a attacking position! After his goals today, I'm a lot more relaxed Lampard's injured! mikeessien4ever

He then set Essien up for the second from a corner, the Ghanaian heading home unmarked at the near post.

And the midfielder grabbed his second from outside the area when his shot squirmed under the keeper.

It was a salvo from which Wolves never looked like recovering, and at times the match resembled an exhibition.

Chelsea's movement and incisiveness in attack was irresistable at times, and the performances of Joe Cole, Essien and Malouda in particular are sure to give the Wolves defenders nightmares for weeks to come.

The visitors were in many ways the architects of their own downfall, though, granting Chelsea's midfield the freedom of Stamford Bridge as they failed to press their opponents across the park.

But they did at least show the odd glimpse of promise in attack, David Edwards twice breaking beyond the Blues defence but failing to get on the end of crosses and Ebanks-Blake bringing a stunning save from Cech with a downward header from Andrew Surman's centre.

Those attacks were all too rare, though, and otherwise the match was a procession for the Blues.

Joe Cole kick-started Chelsea's second-half dominance with his first goal in over a year, the playmaker stroking home from Salomon Kalou's lay-off, and a shell-shocked Wolves were almost entirely on the back foot thereafter.

Essien came closest to a fifth for Chelsea, first forcing keeper Wayne Hennessey to tip on to the bar with a drilled effort from range, and then grazing the outside of the post with a curler from 18 yards out.

And second-half substitute Gael Kakuta - the player at the centre of the Blues' potential transfer ban controversy - showed off his box of tricks on debut before drilling inches past the post late in the game.

As it was, Wolves will be thankful at least to have escaped London with just four goals against them for the second time in a fortnight.

The defeat keeps them rooted in the bottom three - and things do not get much easier for them, with away trips to Tottenham, Manchester United and Liverpool to come.

But for Chelsea, whose electric performance only served to underline their impressive strength in depth, their title charge could hardly be on a straighter track.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti:
"When we win, I am happy. When we play well, I am also happy. Today we did both things and played a great match.

"It was comfortable today. The team have improved their play, they are full of confidence and they are showing what they can do.

"We also showed we have a very good squad. Everyone asks about the future and the African Cup of Nations in January, but today you saw we have excellent young players and will be able to cope."

Wolves manager Mick McCarthy:
"I agree with Carlo - his side were fantastic. We've basically been beaten up with the ball today.

"But I have to take positives, even though there are loads of negatives. We might have gifted them the first two goals, but we did create chances and that's a positive.

"I know that sounds hollow and stupid when we've lost by four and it could have been more, but we gave them two goals and that's always going to make the difference.

"We are in a relegation dogfight from now on. We might as well understand that and get on with it. If we're honest we didn't expect to get anything from our last two games, but now we move on."

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