CHAMPIONS Chelsea tore the script up into shreds with a performance that showed little by way of sentiment.

While Owen Coyle had hoped the emotion that had enveloped the Reebok following the death of Nat Lofthouse would have a positive effect on his stuttering side, it proved quite the opposite, as Carlo Ancelotti’s men romped to a quite comprehensive victory.

It had been three months since the West Londoners had won away from Stamford Bridge, and considering their faltering recent form, it did not seem beyond the realms of possibility that a 13-year wait for a home victory over the Blues could be ended.

Yet save for a rousing first 15 minutes, Wanderers’ undoubted efforts to “win it for Nat” worked completely against them, and they look back on this defeat knowing it was gifted via a string of defensive errors and below-par displays.

The pre-match atmosphere had been muted, building entirely towards the minute’s silence in honour of the club legend. Observed with a magnificent reverence, and followed by a thunderous round of applause, it served to inspire a fast start that nearly caught the champions on their heels.

Within three minutes, Wanderers had carved out two decent opportunities. Stuart Holden sliced his shot from the edge of the box, and after Wanderers won the ball back instantly, Kevin Davies headed into the arms of Petr Cech after beating John Terry to Martin Petrov’s centre.

It would have been the perfect start – but Chelsea were soon to prove that sentiment is not part of their make up.

With their first shot at goal, the Blues were ahead. Florent Malouda won the ball back rather too easily from Steinsson out wide, and played a short pass to Didier Drogba, who took one touch to steady himself before belting a shot from 30 yards that deceived Jussi Jaaskelainen completely before hitting the back of the net.

More silence, this time of the stunned variety.

The goal served to take the sting out of the game, and while the crowd did their best to make sure Wanderers did not retreat into their shell, the problem seemed to be that they were trying too hard to force the issue.

Chelsea, by comparison, seemed cautious about throwing men forward, just as they had in the first half at Stamford Bridge.

On the break, however, they always looked likely to make something happen. Reebok regulars hardly need reminding about Nicolas Anelka’s pace on the counter, and it was to Zat Knight’s credit that he matched the Frenchman stride for stride after a mistake from Elmander had allowed Michael Essien to set him free on goal half an hour in.

Martin Petrov had been restored to the side for the first time in five league games and seemed desperate to impress in the early stages. As a result, Matt Taylor was moved over to the right, and the two nearly combined for the equalising goal, with Cech making a fine fingertip save to palm the latter's glanced header wide of the post.

It proved to be a game changing moment, for while Owen Coyle might have been happy to take his side back to the dressing room to turn round a goal deficit in the second half, he will have been livid about the catalogue of errors that led to Chelsea's second.

Paul Robinson had put the initial pressure on by misjudging a header on the left, and from that resulting corner, Mikel drifted past Taylor too easily and Malouda sneaked a shot past Jaaskelainen at the second attempt, getting a lucky bounce off Gary Cahill in the process.

Elmander might have brightened the mood with an acrobatic volley seconds before the whistle, but if the mood at the interval had gone flat, it was small beer compared to that of the second half.

The pattern was same, with Wanderers trying in vain to create an opening and Chelsea content to sit and pick off the mistakes, now appearing with alarming regularity.

Sure, you could point to the play acting and over dramatisation from the likes of Drogba and Mikel at times, but the Whites' real frustration came from the fact they had once again failed to raise their game to the standards it had been just a few short months ago.

None looked more exasperated than skipper Davies, on whose broad shoulders much is resting at the moment.

There seemed an inevitability, then, when he miscued a cross-field pass to his former strike partner Anelka, that somewhere down the line a third goal would come. Sure enough, the Frenchman freed Essien down the left channel, and via Knight’s half-clearance, the former Reebok hitman was there to sweep home from the penalty spot.

Three became four, and again, Wanderers’ defending left a lot to be desired.

Essien wriggled free of Steinsson on the left and while Robinson put his body on the line to block Anelka's initial effort, it left Ramires with a relatively simple task of placing the ball past Jaaskelainen to drive the knife in deeper.

The game withered away from there, with Chelsea content to bask in what they had achieved.

Wanderers will have to pick themselves up, and fast, or risk ruining a season that had once shown such promise.