Chelsea wild, Kalou make hatrick, Lampard double

CHELSEA 7
- Kalou 24
- Kalou 31
- Lampard (pen) 44
- Kalou 68
- Lampard 81
- Sturridge 87
- Malouda 89

STOKE CITY 0

**Chelsea regained the lead at the top of the Premier League with an impressive victory at home to Stoke City. A Salomon Kalou hat-trick and a Frank Lampard double along with goals from Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda sealed what was a one-sided result for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

It only took an extra couple of minutes for the Blues' fans to see their side go in front. A sublime piece of skill from Drogba led to the Ivory Coast international crossing for Kalou to net his second of the season and put his side in the driving seat.

Two minutes later, the lead could have been extended for Chelsea, when Ferreira found Lampard with a cross, but the England international could not divert the ball home to give his side an extra cushion.

However, he needn’t have worried, as on the half hour mark the Stamford Bridge side doubled their advantage, when a touch from Drogba landed at the feet of Lampard, he then struck the ball powerfully towards the Stoke net, but Sorensen could not keep hold of the ball and Kalou dived in, feet first, putting the ball in the net, but also hitting the Danish keeper.

That allowed Lampard to step up and put the home side into a comfortable lead going into the break as he sent Begovic the wrong way as the ball nestled nicely in the back of the Stoke City goal.

Kalou finally sealed his hat-trick, when he broke the visitors' offside trap, darting down the right hand side and firing the ball towards the Stoke net, Begovic managed to get in front of the ball, but could not help out as the Ivorian wrapped up a fine performance. He was then taken off to a rapturous round of applause from the home fans, as all three points were sealed.That was to be rectified with 10 minutes remaining, when substitute Sam Hutchinson fired a ball across the Stoke box for Lampard to put home from close in and grab his 20th goal of the season.

Ancelotti’s side then completed the half dozen, when substitute Daniel Sturridge rounded Begovic in the visitors' goal to send a clear marker to rivals Manchester United with their rampant play.

Malouda then made up for his previous mistake as he scored from close range, to complete the rout with Chelsea's seventh of the afternoon.

Squads:

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Alex, Ashley Cole, Paulo Ferreira (Sam Hutchinson 73), Michael Ballack, Florent Malouda, Frank Lampard, Nicolas Anelka (Daniel Sturridge 79), Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou (Joe Cole 71).

Stoke City: Thomas Sorensen (Asmir Begovic 36), Danny Higginbotham, Abdoulaye Faye (Ryan Shawcross 9), Danny Collins, Robert Huth, Glenn Whelan, Rory Delap, Matthew Etherington, Dean Whitehead, Dave Kitson (Tuncay Sanli 59), Ricardo Fuller .