Soccer: Liverpool smashed as Chelsea go nine clear

Outstanding Chelsea player Didier Drogba (left) battles for the ball with Liverpool's Jamie Carragher at Anfield. Picture / Reuters

LONDON - Champions Chelsea charged nine points clear at the top of the English premier league with a 4-1 demolition of Liverpool at Anfield yesterday.

Goals by Frank Lampard, Damien Duff, Joe Cole and Geremi gave the rampant London side their eighth win in eight league matches and left European champions Liverpool a staggering 17 points behind with less than a quarter of the season gone.

At Highbury a late, deflected shot by substitute Robin van Persie gave Arsenal a much-needed 1-0 victory over 10-man Birmingham City.

However, Arsenal still trail Chelsea by 11 points. The leaders have 24, followed by Charlton Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur on 15. Manchester United have 14 points, Arsenal 13 and Liverpool only seven, albeit with two games in hand.

Elsewhere, Everton remained rooted to the bottom after a 0-2 loss at Manchester City, struggling Aston Villa lost 2-3 at home to Middlesbrough and Wigan Athletic beat visiting Bolton Wanderers 2-1.

Thursday's Champions League game between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield had ended goalless but the deadlock lasted only 27 minutes yesterday.

Liverpool defender Djimi Traore clumsily felled the outstanding Didier Drogba to concede a penalty which Lampard threaded under the home team's Spanish goalkeeper Jose Reina.

Lampard's England team-mate Steven Gerrard pulled Liverpool level nine minutes later with a fierce angled drive.

It was only the second goal Chelsea have conceded in their 10 competitive matches this season and they hit back like champions.

Drogba fooled Sami Hyypia down the left flank and fed Duff who slid his shot into the corner of the net to make it 2-1 two minutes before the interval.

Drogba was again the creator of their third just past the hour. The Ivory Coast striker broke into the area and his effort fell to Cole, who swept the ball home.

The victory became a rout eight minutes from fulltime when Cameroonian Geremi crashed Chelsea's fourth high into the net with the Liverpool defence asleep.

Arsenal dominated an incident-packed match at Highbury in which Birmingham lost captain Kenny Cunningham after 24 minutes for hacking down a goalbound Freddie Ljungberg.

Defiant City goalkeeper Maik Taylor then saved a Robert Pires penalty and followed that with a string of fine stops, the best of which came when he turned a point-blank Ljungberg shot past the post.

Taylor was beaten nine minutes from fulltime, however, when Dutchman Van Persie lashed in a 20m shot which veered off Stephen Clemence's boot and wrong-footed the prone Birmingham goalkeeper.

"It was a question of taking our chances and being patient," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

"Credit to Taylor, he was outstanding today. Only the type of goal we scored would have beaten him."

The Manchester City-Everton game was a dour affair until City's Danny Mills scored a rare but spectacular goal with a 30m rocket into the top corner after 72 minutes.

A second City goal in stoppage time by striker Darius Vassell confirmed Everton's fifth successive league defeat in which they have failed to score a single goal.

Wigan jumped to eighth by inflicting on Bolton only their second league defeat of the season. Lee McCulloch's drive after 63 minutes proved decisive in their 2-1 win.

Aston Villa's troubles deepened with a poor home display which left them fifth from bottom. Nigerian striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu scored twice for Boro.

- REUTERS