Chelsea climbing after the festive fall

Charlton's impressive run of nine unbeaten league and cup matches came to a sorry end yesterday. They failed to dig themselves out of a hole consisting of three goals conceded in the first 34 minutes on the sands of Stamford Bridge, and Chelsea then immersed them in a constant tide of attacks.

Chelsea's opposition for weeks has included their own permanently churned-up pitch which is to be replaced this week. But they had also not helped themselves over the holiday period. Their failure to finish so much of what in terms of enterprising football had often seemed second only to that of Arsenal had left them eight points behind the leaders.

Yesterday they were well aware that Charlton's normally obdurate defence had conceded less goals away from home than any other in the Premiership. That the visitors fell behind within three minutes was not by any means a result of any negligence.

Graeme Le Saux had escaped down the left flank and turned a centre firmly into the middle of the penalty area. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Chris Powell reached for the ball together before the Dutchman fell, probably as much because of his failure to get a firm foothold as any foul. Even so, the referee, Mike Dean, immediately awarded a penalty which Hasselbaink drove in.

The controversial goal quickly added a sharp edge. Marcel Desailly intercepted a breakaway by Scott Parker who then found himself being tackled by both feet of Le Saux, the Chelsea defender drawing a necessary caution for the challenge.

Chelsea then swept back upfield after running down the free-kick and William Gallas strode powerfully into shooting range. Charlton probably thought he would not be ambitious enough to try. Not so. He slammed one that took a touch off Powell and sank inside the far post.

Charlton's best chance to recover came when Emmanuel Petit, who had moved into the back four when John Terry was substituted, carelessly played a back-pass to his goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini. The referee rightly gave Charlton a free-kick inside the area but Jason Euell made nothing of the kick and allowed Chelsea to resume full control.

The Charlton defence did little right. When Jesper Gronkjaer centred in the 34th minute no one homed in on Eidur Gudjohnsen who comfortably beat Dean Kiely at the far post.

It was impossible not to believe that, three minutes from time, the referee decided to balance his earlier dubious penalty decision. This time Kevin Lisbie was moving purposefully into the penalty area when Desailly attempted to intercede. If he made contact with Lisbie it was minimal but the referee did not hesitate to give the penalty which Euell struck in.

Charlton's need to build on their luck was obvious, but the tactical decision to put the substitute Jonatan Johansson upfront with Euell and Lisbie and remove Powell and Radostin Kishishev was clearly a gamble. Indeed, their depleted midfield lost further control and suffered badly under pressure from Chelsea's counter-attacks.

Shortly after half-time they conceded another goal. Le Saux had only just wheeled away after seeing his long curling shot touched over by Kiely when he stormed upfield again and did the job properly, if with a big hand of fortune. His speculative shot from outside the penalty area seemed safely in the grasp of Kiely, but the ball slipped through the goalkeeper's hands to gift Chelsea's fourth.

Charlton had probably not played as weakly as this all season and Chelsea rode the privilege. The pitch looked ever more like Margate at low tide but the Chelsea fans not only loved the amusements but were more than a little amazed at the standard of ball control their team managed to achieve. Indeed, Chelsea got a bit too confident.

In one attack, they out-numbered Charlton's defenders three to one and still managed to be caught offside. Hasselbaink then broke away alone only to hit his shot against the post before Gudjohnsen's close-range header was parried by Kiely's superb reflex save. By then most of Charlton's reflexes were totally numb.