Chelsea go nine points clear

Rampant Chelsea taught Liverpool a lesson yesterday, thrashing the European champions 4-1 at Anfield to charge nine points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Goals by Frank Lampard, Damien Duff, Joe Cole and Geremi gave the English champions their eighth win out of eight in the league and left Liverpool a staggering 17 points behind them with less than a quarter of the season gone.

Another of Chelsea's chief rivals, Arsenal, needed a late, deflected shot by substitute Robin van Persie to secure a much-needed 1-0 victory over 10-man Birmingham City at Highbury.

However, they still trail Chelsea by 11 points. The leaders have 24, followed by Charlton Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur on 15.

Manchester United have 14 points and Arsenal 13, although both have a game in hand on Chelsea.

Liverpool have only seven points in 13th place, albeit from two games less than Chelsea.

Elsewhere yesterday, Everton remained rooted to the bottom after a 2-0 defeat at Manchester City, struggling Aston Villa lost 3-2 at home to Middlesbrough and Wigan Athletic beat visiting Bolton Wanderers 2-1.

Wednesday's Champions League game between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield had ended goalless but the deadlock lasted only 27 minutes yesterday.

Liverpool defender Djimi Traore clumsily felled the outstanding Didier Drogba to concede a penalty which Lampard threaded under the home team's Spanish goalkeeper Jose Reina.

Lampard's England team-mate Steven Gerrard pulled Liverpool level nine minutes later with a fierce angled drive but visitors hit back like champions.

Drogba fooled Sami Hyypia down the left flank and fed Duff who slid his shot into the corner of the net to make it 2-1 two minutes before the interval.

Drogba was again the creator of their third just past the hour mark. The Ivory Coast striker broke into the area and his effort fell to a just-onside Cole who swept the ball home.

The victory became a rout nine minutes from time when Cameroonian Geremi crashed Chelsea's fourth high into the net with the Liverpool defence on its knees.

More respect

Despite going 37 matches unbeaten, Chelsea have attracted criticism for their style of play so yesterday's win left their manager Jose Mourinho feeling vindicated.

"It doesn't give us permission to sleep but eight matches, eight victories, 18 goals - I think it's time to respect my team a little bit more," he said.

"We are a very good football team with everything a football team should have."

Arsenal dominated an incident-packed match at Highbury in which Birmingham lost captain Kenny Cunningham after 24 minutes for hacking down a goal-bound Freddie Ljungberg.

Defiant City goalkeeper Maik Taylor then saved a Robert Pires penalty and followed that with a string of fine stops, the best of which came after 52 minutes when he turned a point-blank Ljungberg shot past the post.

Taylor was beaten nine minutes from time, however, when Dutchman Van Persie lashed in a 20-metre shot which veered off Stephen Clemence's boot and wrong-footed the prone Birmingham keeper.

"It was a question of taking our chances and being patient," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

"Credit to Taylor, he was outstanding today. Only the type of goal we scored would have beaten him."

Danny Mills scored a rare but spectacular goal with a 30-metre rocket into the top corner as Manchester City sent Everton to their fifth successive league defeat.

Wigan jumped to eighth after Lee McCulloch's drive after 63 minutes proved decisive in their 2-1 win over Bolton.

Nigerian striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu scored twice for 'Boro to deepen the troubles of Villa, who languish fifth from bottom.

England squad

England squad for the World Cup qualifiers at home to Austria on Oct. 8 and Poland on Oct. 12:

Keepers: Robinson (Tottenham), Kirkland (WBA), Green (Norwich).

Defenders: Cole, Campbell (Arsenal), Neville (Everton), Young (Charlton), Carragher (Liverpool), Ferdinand (Man. Utd), Terry (Chelsea), King (Tottenham).

Midfielders: Lampard, Wright-Phillips, Cole (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Beckham (R. Madrid), Smith, Richardson (Man. Utd), Jenas (Tottenham).

Forwards: Rooney (Man. Utd), Owen (Newcastle), Bent (Charlton), Crouch (L'pool), Defoe (Tottenham).

Premier League

Arsenal 1
Birmingham 0

Aston Villa 2
M'boro 3

Liverpool 1
Chelsea 4

Man. City 2
Everton 0

The Championship

QPR-Crystal Palace today, 9 p.m.