Chelsea moved to the top of the Premiership table with a professional performance in their 2-0 win over Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday.

After failing to breach the Stoke defense for more than half hour, Jose Bosingwa calmed the visitors' nerves by putting Chelsea in the lead with a deflected effort. The hosts tried to stage a come back in the second half, but Nicolas Anelka doubled the lead with 15 minutes to spare as Chelsea cruised to a comfortable victory in the end.

Flush with confidence following their 0-0 draw away to Liverpool last weekend, Stoke tried to re-create their physical approach against Chelsea, allowing the visitors to dominate the possession. The hosts were also missing the services of Rory Delap whose long throws posed a serious threat to the opposition defenses so far this season.

Michael Ballack had two decent chances to put Chelsea in the lead but his efforts were easily saved by Thomas Sorensen who also denied Didier Drogba from close range. The visitors finally took a deserved lead in the 36th minute when Bosingwa smashed Lampard's pass towards the target and his effort was helped by a deflection off Andy Griffin which took the ball away from Sorensen and into the net.

Florent Malouda came close to doubling the lead minute later but saw his effort smash against the cross bar after Sorensen had pulled off a brilliant save to deflect the ball. The hosts tried to step up the pressure late in the second half and though they came close to taking the lead from a set piece, witch John Obi Mikel clearing off the line, Anelka put the result beyond doubt in the 76th minute when a mistake by Cort allowed him to slot the ball past Sorensen and into the net.