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Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the Premiership table to 8 points over Arsenal after an easy day at the office saw a severely depleted starting eleven still prove far too good for Wolverhampton Wanderers, coasting to a 4-0 win. A brace from Michael Essien and a goal each from Florent Malouda and Joe Cole meant that it was a day to forget for Mick McCarthy's men. Arsenal meanwhile were battered and bruised into submission by Sunderland at the Stadium of Light meaning that they will go into next weekend's London derby against Chelsea with plenty of points to cover up. Manchester United could leap above Arsenal to 2nd and cut Chelsea's lead down to 5 points should they beat Everton at home in the late kick-off at Old Traffo rd.

Chelsea had to start the game without their central midfield trio of Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Deco, all of whom were out with injury. Even influential striker Didier Drogba had not fully recovered from the rib injury he suffered 2 weeks ago to take part in this game meaning that Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou got starts at Stamford Bridge today. Kalou kept Nicolas Anelka company upfront with Joe Cole playing in the hole behind. Florent Malouda and Michael Essien were the other major attacking threats with John Obi Mikel playing in the sitting role in central midfield. Juliano Belletti also got a rare start for Ancelotti's side at right full back.

On the other hand, Wolves' boss Mick McCarthy picked two strikers in Matt Jarvis and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. First choice striker Kevin Doyle was rested after his exploits with the Irish side in midweek. Defender Michael Mancienne could not play in this game because of the terms of his loan deal from the club.

Chelsea were ahead as early as the 5th minute when Jody Craddock's clearance landed at Malouda's feet. The Frenchman drove forward towards the Wolves back four before unleashing a ferocious shot into the top corner from a couple of yards outside the box. Wolves were finding it hard to contain Chelsea and Kalou was the next to try his luck in the 12th minute. His shot was saved by the Wolves keeper but Michael Essien climbed above the Wolves rearguard to double Chelsea's advantage from the resultant corner.

It was proving to be a walk in the park for the Londoners as Essien scored his second and Chelsea's third in the 22nd minute with a shot that should have been saved by Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey. Chelsea dominated for the rest of the first half without adding any more goals to the score line. For Wolves, the only chance of the half fell to Ebanks-Blake, whose header from the 6 yard line was parried behind for a corner by Petr Cech.

Joe Cole added a fourth in the 56th minute with another low shot which the keeper should have saved. This was Cole's 1st goal for Chelsea for more than a year. The Chelsea manager then brought on Gael Kakuta, the young player whose signing cost Chelsea the transfer ban from FIFA and Kakuta showed a couple of neat touches with the ball. Michael Essien almost completed his hat trick with another long range effort which was saved by Hennessey just after the hour mark.

With the 3 points already in the bag, Ancelotti gave youngsters like Nemanja Matic and Fabio Borini a feel of Premiership football towards the end of the game. Essien tried a couple of more long range strikes to score his third goal, which proved unsuccessful and the game ended 4-0 in favour of the table toppers.

Over at the Stadium of Light Sunderland continued their impressive start to the season under Steve Bruce by beating Arsenal 1-0. Arsene Wenger handed a start to Aaron Ramsey instead of Andrei Arshavin. The Russian forward was on the bench after playing two high pressure games in the past week, and suffering the disappointment of not taking Russia through to the World Cup Finals. Arsenal were also without top scorer Robin van Persie, expected to be out for 6 weeks after injuring his ankle playing for Holland last week. Though they did welcome Carlos Vela and Theo Walcott to the matchday squad, the absence of their physically stronger players like Abou Diaby and Nicklas Bendtner was significantly felt as Sunderland took every advantage to bully a light weight Arsenal eleven. Despite that the visitors looked the better side in the first half and dominated possession creating some decent half chances.

However, Arsenal were unable to make the most of their opportunities and it came back to haunt them in the  71st minute when an in-form Darren Bent was in the right place at the right time to hammer the ball home from 6 yards after Frazier Cambpell's shin rolled the ball into his path from a Sunderland corner. Arsenal called on the cavalry, and despite Arshavin coming close late on, would be disappointed with their 90 minute output of just testing the Sunderland keeper twice.

The relegation six pointer between Hull City and West Ham United produced one of the most entertaining clashes of the day with the sides playing out a thrilling 3-3 draw. West Ham had taken a two goal lead by the 11th minute courtesy of Guillermo Franco and Jack Collison. But by the half time whistle, Hull had scored thrice to head into the break in the lead after an amazing comeback. Carlton Cole's own goal provided Phil Brown's side the impetus and goals just before half time from Zayatte and Bullard (penalty) meant that Hull went into half time a goal to the good. Hull were however reduced to 10-men early in the second half when last man Bernard Mendy brought down Scott Parker when through on goal. And West Ham took full toll of their man advantage to level proceedings with a 69th minute goal from defender Manuel Da Costa.

Aston Villa and Burnley were involved in a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor. Steven Caldwell scored for Burnley in the 9th minute but Emile Heskey's header late in the game denied Burnley a victory. Birmingham pulled off a good home win against Fulham thanks to a delightful Lee Bowyer chip in another very physical contest.

In the early kick-off at Anfield, Liverpool and Manchester City followed up an exceptionally dull first half with 4 goals in the second for a 2-2 draw. Click here for the match report.

FINAL SCORES:

Chelsea 4-0 Wolves
Sunderland 1-0 Arsenal
Burnley 1-1 Aston Villa
Birmingham City 1-0 Fulham
Hull City 3-3 West Ham United
Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City

File Photograph Copyright: Ryu Voelkel

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