Chelsea reclaimed their position at the top of the Premier League table with a comfortable 2-0 victory away to Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.

Nicolas Anelka opened the scoring for Chelsea in the 39th minute by deflecting Jose Bosingwa shot before doubling the lead in the 68th minute to given an ideal present for manager Luiz Felipe Scolari on his 60th birthday.

With Liverpool winning their match on Saturday, pressure was high on Chelsea to collect all three points from the tie. The visitors were on the attack right from the kick off and had an early penalty appeal dismissed when Anelka tumbled over a challenge from Paul Robinson in the 5th minute.

Anelka had a number of chances to put his side ahead but Robinson pulled off a string of superb saves to deny the French striker and Jon Obi Mikel. Blackburn's first real chance came after 12 minutes when Carlos Villanueva's curled shot was saved in style by Petr Cech.

The hosts took a deserved lead in the 39th minute, albeit in a fortunate manner when Bosingwa's shot took a deflection off Anelka and into the net past Robinson. Blackburn stepped up the pressure in search of an equalizer and Jason Roberts and Villanueva went close to scoring on a couple of occasions but were unable to hit the back of the net.

Just when it looked as if Blackburn could claw their way back into the match, Chelsea put the result beyond doubt when Frank Lampard passed the ball for Anelka who scored with a brilliant chip over Robinson in the 68th minute.