Anelka fires Blues top

Chelsea returned to the top of the Premier League table with a 2-0 win at Blackburn.

French forward the Chelsea hero at a rain-soaked Ewood Park

A Nicolas Anelka brace fired Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League table with a 2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers on Sunday. Liverpool overtook Luiz Felipe Scolari's side at the summit on Saturday, but the Blues regained the advantage on goal difference with three points in the North West. At a rain-soaked Ewood Park, Chelsea dominated an engaging first half and were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty in the opening minutes as Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson caused Anelka to fall inside the 18-yard area. However, justice was done on 39 minutes when Scolari - who was celebrating his 60th birthday - saw his team take the lead as Anelka deflected a Jose Bosingwa effort past Robinson. Despite the torrential downpour of the first 45 minutes, conditions were deemed acceptable to continue and home manager Paul Ince clearly demanded an improved performance from his men during the interval. Rovers raised their game, but Anelka netted his 10th league goal of the season in cute fashion with 22 minutes remaining to ease Chelsea to victory. The win was achieved without Didier Drogba even making the trip, and question-marks remain over his long-term future at the club, especially now Anelka has established himself as the manager's favourite. Blackburn must have hoped the pouring rain would be in their favour but Chelsea took to the conditions like ducks to water.

Disaster

Disaster nearly struck early on for the home side when Keith Andrews' awful back-pass was intercepted by Anelka, who appeared to be felled by the sliding Robinson, but referee Chris Foy ignored the shouts for a penalty. Blackburn put their faith in hard work but again were nearly undone by lapses of concentration. Anelka was completely unmarked when Bosingwa sent over a straightforward cross and Robinson was forced to save his downward header with his feet. After John Terry had landed a header on the roof of the net, Robinson was forced to save again with his feet to deny John Obi Mikel from close range. Florent Malouda was the next Chelsea player to be wasteful, slicing wide from 15 yards after a poor clearance, before Robinson was in action again, this time pushing aside a low drive from Frank Lampard. Blackburn finally put a good passing move together and only Petr Cech's acrobatics prevented Carlos Villanueva giving Rovers an undeserved lead. That near-miss seemed to hearten Blackburn and they started to push Chelsea back - and now the conditions were getting really tricky, with the ball being held up by standing water. But it still seemed only a matter of time before Chelsea broke through and Robinson had to be at his very best to keep out Anelka's shot which came through the legs of a defender. Lampard thumped in another 25-yard effort that the Rovers goalkeeper clubbed away, before - almost as soon as the rain stopped - Chelsea took the lead in freakish circumstances.

Hit-and-hope

Bosingwa's long-range hit-and-hope was heading wide until it struck Anelka and trickled across the line with Robinson wrong-footed and unable to change direction in the slippery conditions. Rovers began with more purpose in the second half and Jason Roberts had a gilt-edged chance for an equaliser when Morten Gamst Pedersen lofted a pass to the edge of the box, and the striker turned away from Terry to give himself a clear sight of goal, but Cech's looming presence blocked out the shot. The spell of pressure continued as Villanueva hammered a strike over the bar after Roberts had again got the better of Terry. With less than half an hour remaining, and concerned no doubt by the apparent change in the direction of the game, Scolari stiffened the side by taking off Salomon Kalou and sending on Juliano Belletti. The change had the desired effect as Anelka scored his second to put the game beyond Blackburn's reach. Malouda and Lampard combined on the edge of the box and the England midfielder stabbed a short pass to put Anelka in the clear and he finished with aplomb, lifting the ball over Robinson to make it 2-0.

Blackburn Rovers	Team Statistics	Chelsea
0	Goals	2
0	1st Half Goals	1
2	Shots on Target	10
5	Shots off Target	6
1	Blocked Shots	3
5	Corners	9
14	Fouls	11
0	Offsides	1
2	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
69.9	Passing Success	74.9
24	Tackles	12
70.8	Tackles Success	83.3
47.7	Possession	52.3
49.6	Territorial Advantage	50.4