Can't touch this: Jose Bosingwa keeps Wolves at bay as Chelsea secured a routine win over weaker opposition [AFP]
Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou scored to give Chelsea a 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and open a five-point gap at the top of the English Premier League.
Malouda struck his seventh league goal of the season and Kalou came off the bench to seal victory after the break for Carlo Ancelotti's side.
Tottenham Hotspur rose to third, seven points behind Chelsea, after Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart made it five goals in seven since joining the north London club, notching his side's equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to improving Everton.
West Bromwich Albion maintained their dream start to life back in the top flight, moving into fourth place with a 2-1 home defeat of Fulham while Birmingham City beat Blackpool 2-0.
Sunderland beat Aston Villa 1-0 and Wigan Athletic's home match against Lancashire rivals Bolton Wanderers ended 1-1.
Bottom club West Ham United host Newcastle United later on Saturday.
Manchester City can reduce Chelsea's lead on Sunday when they host Arsenal while Manchester United, down in sixth place, end their turbulent week away to Stoke City.
Rooney injured
Wayne Rooney, who signed a five-year-contract on Friday after publicly angling for a transfer, is injured and will miss the match.
Liverpool are at home against Blackburn Rovers.
Tottenham wasted the chance to bolster their top-four ambitions in the early match on Saturday with their 1-1 draw with Everton.
Van der Vaart scored an unmissable blast from a yard out after 20 minutes after Everton had taken the lead when Leighton Baines curled a free kick past Heurelho Gomes.
The draw lifted Tottenham into third place with 15 points from nine games but they remained two behind Manchester City.
Beaten 4-3 by Inter Milan in the European Champions League on Wednesday, Spurs were the brighter side in the first half and should have reached half time in front, but Peter Crouch wasted a couple of good opportunities for the home side.
Neither side did enough to take all three points after the break although Tottenham did have the better chances with Crouch, who nodded down for Van der Vaart's goal, guilty of some sloppy finishing.
After a slow start to the season mid-table Everton stretched their unbeaten league run to four games.
Resource from: Al-Jazeera
