Chelsea 5 Sunderland 0

If the mission was to make Stamford Bridge the fortress it had been for the past four and a half years before Liverpool barged down the gates last week then this was a splendid start.
A short-range effort from Brazilian defender Alex notched up the 1,000th Chelsea goal in the Premier League. A Frank Lampard header gave the Chelsea midfielder the 100th league goal of his career. And a Nicolas Anelka hat-trick completed a rout which had the home jokers chanting sarcastically "Boring, boring Chelsea."

In truth Chelsea hardly required a fortress to repel a Sunderland side who all but waved a white flag in the teeming rain which drenched Stamford Bridge.

The Wearsiders, dismal in defeat against Stoke in midweek, were as woeful as Chelsea's passing and movement was wonderful.

So woeful that manager Roy Keane was sent to the stands by referee Martin Atkinson as his frustration boiled over in the half-time tunnel when he verbally remonstrated with the officials.

Before the match Keane had warned it takes at least four days for him to recover his karma when he loses his temper. After this performance it might take him until Christmas.

Keane had made five changes to the starting line-up, dropping Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf to the bench and handing striker Kenwyne Jones his first start of the season after recovering from the knee injury which had kept him out for four months.

But not one Sunderland player would have passed the exacting Keane contribution test on an afternoon when the Chelsea fans taunted them with chants of "Cheerio".

The tone was set from the kick-off as Chelsea penned Sunderland in their own half, dominating possession, fizzing the ball around the greasy surface with precision.

They signalled their intentions as early as the 16th minute when Deco swivelled sweetly on the edge of the area and sent a swerving angled shot thundering against the Sunderland crossbar. It was the shot of the match, a demonstration of Portuguese quality. But there was more, much more, to come.

And Chelsea confirmed their authority with two goals in two first-half minutes.

The first arrived from Rodrigo Dias de Costa, otherwise known as Alex, who started the move in midfield. The ball was switched to Joe Cole out on the right and when it fizzed across the penalty area it deflected off goalkeeper Marton Fulop into the path of Alex, who had continued his run, and he swept the goal home from three yards.

Not the grandest of strikes but it will still grace the record books as Chelsea's 1,000th Premier League goal.

Number 1,001 was scored by Anelka, but again owed much to the prescience of Alex.

This time it was Lampard who provided the angled cross, which skidded across the penalty area off the rain-drenched surface.

Alex again got the touch as he slid in and although the ball was about to cross the line Anelka made sure, smashing the ball home from no more than 12 inches.

Anelka slotted his second, again from close range, on the stroke of half-time.

It got worse for Sunderland in the 51st minute when Joe Cole supplied the cross for Lampard to head home and two minutes later Anelka completed his hat-trick, again from close-range with the ball looping off the body of goalkeeper Fulop and dropping agonisingly over the line.

Sunderland raids were rare but one did bring the save of the match from Petr Cech, who dived bravely at the feet of Cisse to palm the ball away.

But that was scant consolation for Keane who sat in the stand, hunched into his overcoat, whispering into his mobile phone.

He might well have been telling chairman Niall Quinn how many reinforcements he needs in the January transfer window.

As for Chelsea, they go to Roma in midweek in buoyant mood. The fortress as secure as ever.