Chelsea without Drogba destroyed Watford

Chelsea 5 ------------- 0 Watford
- Sturridge 5,
- Eustace (og) 15,
- Malouda 22,
- Lampard 64,
- Sturridge 68

The likes of Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda and Alex replaced the absentees in a line-up clearly selected to deal with any possibilty of a shock at the first time of asking.

And the Blues didn't waste too long confirming their superiority - although doubtless boss Malky will be disappointed that an early lead was yielded from a set piece.

This was all too easy, with Watford never recovering from their fifth minute concession. Malouda's centre duly prompted panic just before the quarter-hour mark with the ball ricocheting from Joe Cole, Adrian Mariappa and Frank Lampard before dribbling in off John Eustace. Lampard found his own reward with a trademark dipping shot over Scott Loach just after the hour to ease the home side four goals ahead.

Teams:

Chelsea: Hilario, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole (Kakuta '74), Lampard, Belletti (Matic '65), Zhirkov, Joe Cole, Malouda, Sturridge (Borini '70).

Watford: Loach, Hodson, Mariappa, DeMerit, Doyley, Eustace, Cowie (Harley '80), Lansbury, Severin (Jenkins 46), Cleverley, Graham (Hrnderson '80).