A injury hit Chelsea side trashed Middlesbrough 5-0 in their Premiership encounter on Saturday to maintain their place at the top of the league table.

Chelsea dominated right from the start with Salomon Kalou putting the visitors in an early lead in the 14th minute. The Blues turned on the style in the second half, scoring four goals in space of 16 minutes as Juliano Belletti, Kalou, Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda all hit the back of the net.

Chelsea went into the match without Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Petr Cech and Didier Drogba leading to pre match suggestions that Middlesbrough could steal a point against the league leaders.

However the visitors were on the attack right from the kick off and took a deserved lead in the 14th minute when Kalou was the first to react to Belletti's blocked shot and was left with a simple tap in from close range.

Chelsea pressed ahead for the second goal but though Lampard and Malouda had great chances to score a goal, Boro hung on to the score line till half time. The Blues stepped up the pressure in the second half and soon doubled the lead in the 51st minute when Belletti raced forward and scored with his trade mark long range effort from 30 yards out.

The Boro defense collapsed under the pressure as Chelsea were soon 3-0 up two minutes later with Malouda squaring the ball for Kalou whose shot took a deflection off Wheater before rolling into the net.

Lampard added the fourth for Chelsea in the 63rd minute with Kalou turning creator as he found Lampard with a great cross and the England international made no mistake from close range. Malouda scored a deserved fifth 4 minutes later when he latched on to a rebound off Anelka's shot to complete the rout.