12 November 2006, by Mark Simpson

Chelsea master class destroys Watford

Chelsea 4-0 Watford

A devastating Didier Drogba hatrick decimated Watford at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea strolled to a 4-0 victory against the newly promoted Hornets.

Portuguese pair Hilario and Ferreira paid the price for poor performances in the previous defeat in the Premiership against Tottenham. Cudicini was back in goal and Geremi was picked ahead of Boulahrouz at right back.

The opening chance came from a long free kick pumped into the Watford box. Drogba controlled the ball on his thigh, swivelled and shot just wide. Moments later Geremi pulled the ball back to Lampard who floated the ball in for Drogba to head over.

It was to be third time lucky for Drogba though, when a sweeping move involving around 15 passes ending in Carvalho dropping his shoulder and cruising past the defender on the right wing, before laying the ball off to Geremi who rifled a low cross into the box. The ball was flicked on by Shevchenko and buried into the back of the net by Drogba.

Shevchenko-Drogba magic

Moments later a give-and-go between Shevchenko and Drogba on the edge of the Watford box saw the big Ivorian in the clear and his cross shot flew past Foster to put the Blues two nil up.

Watford’s only real chance of the first half fell to Shittu after a scramble in the Chelsea box but brave goalkeeping by Cudicini kept the ball out.

The second half continued in the same vein for Chelsea. A clever flick from Drogba picked out Ballack on the edge of the box and his lob over the on rushing goalkeeper was just wide.

A long kick up field by Cudicini was brilliantly controlled on Drogba’s chest, who then rolled past the defender and played a delightfully weighted ball through to Shevchenko. The Ukrainian also showed fine chest control, ghosted past the keeper and ran the ball into the back of the net to put the champions three up.

Shevchenko had a second ruled out for offside when he clearly was not. In the 70th minute Robben found Geremi in space and his low shot was met by Drogba, who rammed the ball home for his second hatrick of the season.

Lampard then went on a brilliant run in and out of defenders before playing the ball through to Ashley Cole who instantly controlled and shot but Foster pulled off a good save to keep it out. A last minute corner was well met on the edge of the box by Carvalho, but his header dropped just wide.

The win sees Chelsea set a new Premiership record of 50 home games without defeat. It was truly a master class from the champions who scored four goals and conceded none for the second game running and did not really get out of second gear in doing so.

Chelsea:
Cudicini, Geremi, Terry, Carvalho, Cole, Makelele (Wright-Phillips 76), Essien, Ballack (Cole 73), Lampard, Drogba, Shevchenko (Robben 65)

Watford:
Foster, Doyley, Shittu, DeMerit, Stewart, Smith (Bangura 70), Mahon, Francis, Bouazza (Powell 62), Henderson, Young

Goals:
[1-0] Drogba, 27
[2-0] Drogba, 36
[3-0] Shevchenko, 52
[4-0] Drogba, 69