Ice Man blows hot as Rovers freeze

Eidur Gudjohnsen sent shivers down the spine of Mark Hughes with three goals in 13 minutes as Chelsea beat Blackburn for the first time in all 11 of their Premiership meetings at Stamford Bridge.

The fact that the Icelandic international alone scored more times in one game than an entire Chelsea team has managed in a single fixture this season tells you of the worrying gulf developing between Blackburn and the rest of the Premiership.

Even Southampton, the only club below Rovers on Saturday night, managed to restrict Chelsea to just two goals here, and even they came after the home side conceded their only goal at home this season.

But Rovers only managed one shot on target during this encounter, so at both ends of the field it was never a contest.

Gudjohnsen hadn't scored since the opening day of the season but once he got Chelsea off the mark in the 37th minute there was no stopping him - and the ensuing episode was painful to watch.

The sad thing for Rovers was, up until this point, the only deluge that looked like raining in on them was the torrential downpour dropping into Stamford Bridge.

It seemed to suit Blackburn as the weather stifled Chelsea's passing game and it looked as though another frustrating afternoon for Jose Mourinho's goal-shy Blues was in store.

Lucas Neill showed that all those weekdays spent marking Damien Duff at Brockhall had paid off, the former Ewood hero often having to drift inside such was the lack of joy he was getting from the full back.

In the middle Garry Flitcroft made sure Scott Parker wasn't going to get an easy re-introduction to Premiership football and, helped by the slippery surface, there was no sign of the destruction that was to come.

But that all changed when Gudjohnsen finally found space to break the deadlock and Hughes could only watch in agony as his game plan collapsed.

The blonde bomber added another just two minutes later, and if that wasn't game over then his penalty five minutes into the second half merely made sure.

On a personal level for Gudjohnsen, at least a performance like this will finally convince Mourinho that he really does have no need for drug-shamed Adrian Mutu.

In a typical case of a programme - sorry, 'Official Matchday Magazine' - policy of positive publicity at all costs, there was no mention of the Romanian, subject of the biggest story in football this week.

But fans needn't have worried because, for their £3, they got a glossy three-page special on William Gallas. Who didn't play.

As for those who did, even Duff couldn't find it in his heart to spare the club that launched his career further embarrassment as he hammered in his first goal of the season after 73 minutes.

It's only 18 months since he was doing that kind of thing for Rovers, but it must seem like another lifetime to the travelling supporters who still so generously applaud him.

Although it made no difference to the outcome of the game, what Duff's strike did do was plummet Blackburn's goal difference to such an extent that it's worth an extra point to their relegation rivals even this early in the campaign.

The figure of minus 15 is way below anyone else's - no other Premiership side has a deficit in double figures.

Even Crystal Palace's Andy Johnson has scored as many league goals by himself as Blackburn have managed, so there are problems that need urgently addressing at both ends.

But to be fair, with the amount of Roman Abramovich-subsidised dosh that runs out onto the field every week, Chelsea should be seeing off visiting teams this emphatically more often.

Fans and players both touchingly devoted the final 10 minutes of the game to Mateja Kezman scoring his first goal in English football, and this sort of sideshow malarkey really should be more commonplace with a squad of this quality.

The Dutchman would have got it too if it wasn't for first the crossbar then Brad Friedel, but even a heavier defeat wouldn't necessarily have been a disgrace given the gap in resources between the clubs.

There were few signs of this in the first half hour when, after an excellent early save by Friedel from Frank Lampard's low drive, this gulf was rarely in evidence.

Although Blackburn's only hint of breaching the awesome Ricardo Carvalho-John Terry backline was through a couple of penalty shouts for Paul Dickov, they were more than holding their own.

But then a moment of magic from Joe Cole brought the breakthrough as his lovely chip over the top of the Rovers defence gave Gudjohnsen the time to steer his volley across Friedel into the net, a finish similar to Paul Gallagher's at Ewood Park during the last meeting between the two sides in February.

Gallagher is now nowhere to be seen in the Rovers forward line, but this doesn't necessarily make him any different from the current batch of strikers.

Dickov and Youri Djorkaeff had little to feed off and it was a similar story for Jonathan Stead and Jay Bothroyd, the understudies who got their curtain call after 53 minutes.

There were no such problems for Gudjohnsen, however, who took Lampard's 39th minute pass in an almost identical position to his first goal, but on this occasion he had time to chest it down before volleying past Friedel.

Five minutes into the second half Gudjohnsen was denied his hat-trick by Short's desperate lunge, but he didn't have to wait long for it as he got up to send Friedel the wrong way with the penalty.

Duff's low drive into the corner form the edge of the area was an inevitable footnote, given the impetus Dutch duo Kezman and debutant Arjen Robben brought to the game's latter stages.

Chelsea: Cech, Johnson, Bridge, Carvalho, Terry, Cole (Robben 63), Lampard, Parker, Smertin (Tiago 65), Duff, Gudjohnsen (Kezman 72). Subs not used: Cudicini, Gallas.

Goals: 1-0 Gudjohnsen 37; 2-0 Gudjohnsen 39; 3-0 Gudjohnsen (pen) 50; Duff 74.

Attendance: 41, 546

Referee: Graham Poll. Sensible. 7

Yellow cards: Chelsea - Parker 42; Rovers - Flitcroft 19