Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari gained an insight into just how good his injury-hit squad is after seeing it rip Middlesbrough apart 5-0.Despite missing the likes of Petr Cech, Didier Drogba and Ashley and Joe Cole, the Blues were in rampant form at the Riverside Stadium to condemn Boro to the heaviest defeat of Gareth Southgate's reign.
Salomon Kalou fired the visitors ahead with 14 minutes gone, and although Chelsea took the game by the scruff of the neck, they had to wait until six minutes after the break for Juliano Belletti to increase their lead with a stunning 35-yard strike.
Kalou made sure of the points with a deflected 53rd-minute third, and Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda completed the rout on a day when Nicolas Anelka had a goal disallowed, hit the post and was denied by keeper Ross Turnbull.
The visitors arrived on Teesside having not lost a league game in 10 months, but with concerns their injury problems might make an extension of that record difficult.
But they need not have worried as Boro proved compliant hosts in front of a crowd that numbered 29,221 at kick-off, but significantly fewer by the time the final whistle brought a welcome end to their misery.
Scolari could have been forgiven for bemoaning his luck as he was forced to name a side shorn of players worth in excess of £100million, with Cech, the Coles, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Drogba all unavailable to him.
Opposite number Southgate, however, might have reminded him, had he asked, he was still able to call upon a formidable squad, and the former England defender would have taken little pleasure in being proved absolutely correct in his assessment by half-time.
Despite their lack of big names, the visitors were utterly dominant before the break and not only that, they played a brand of expansive, penetrative football that left Boro gasping for air.
The only concern for Scolari will have been that as they went in at the break, they were only a goal to the good, Kalou pouncing on a loose ball to fire past Turnbull after Andrew Taylor had blocked the impressive Belletti's 14th-minute shot.
But for the slightest of touches from right-back Jonathan Grounds, Lampard would have doubled the lead from Malouda's cross 10 minutes later.
The Frenchman should have done better when he found himself in on goal with 31 minutes gone, only to fire wide of Turnbull's far post with Boro hanging on for dear life.
Southgate's side did not muster a single credible attempt on goal in the opening 45 minutes with Cech's deputy Carlo Cudicini a virtual spectator.
Its fortunes were summed up seconds before Malouda's miss when Adam Johnson picked out Stewart Downing with a set-play from a corner, only to see the England international thrash at fresh air.
Indeed, the most pressure returning England skipper John Terry found himself under was in injury-time when central defensive partner Alex tried to be a little too clever and left him stretching to clear his lines.
That earned the apologetic Brazilian a stern rebuke from his captain, who otherwise had few problems handling Egypt striker Mido.
Southgate may have been happy to get his players back into the dressing room with the scoreline at only 1-0, but the game was over within eight minutes of the restart.
Turnbull at least stood up to the challenge when, within four minutes of the restart, Malouda waltzed past Grounds and, having opted not to hand Anelka a tap-in, was denied by the keeper.
But the youngster could do nothing two minutes later to keep Belletti's stinging 35-yard pile-driver out of his top corner as Chelsea flexed its muscles once again.
The third goal arrived with 37 minutes still to play when Kalou claimed his second with the help of a wicked deflection off David Wheater, although Boro's misery was far from complete.
Kalou and Anelka combined down the right with 63 minutes gone for the midfielder to send in an inviting cross for Lampard, whose diving header gave Turnbull no chance.
The Boro keeper's afternoon took a further turn for the worse with 66 minutes gone when he allowed Anelka's shot to squirm from his grasp, with the post serving a fifth up on a plate for the vigilant Malouda.
Anelka saw a sixth goal rightly ruled out for offside with the Teessiders in tatters, and was then denied by a fine save from Turnbull with 14 minutes remaining, although the job had been completed long before.
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