Hasselbaink keeps Chelsea in the chase

Chelsea 3 Everton

Chelsea were hardly required to break sweat as they brushed aside a toothless, and occasionally gormless, Everton and reclaimed fourth place in the Premiership table, thus keeping their hopes of European competition next season, and even a place in the Champions' League, very much on the front burner.

The flame for that burner was ignited by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who atoned vigorously for his four previous blank outings with two first-half goals, taking his season's total to 29 and rendering the match moribund by half-time.

Chelsea are ahead of Newcastle, who have two games in hand, on goal difference and will certainly not ride such a comfortable carousel in their four remaining League games. So it was just as well they punished Everton in this fashion.

Given time and space to compose themselves, Chelsea built some excellent attacks, with the outstanding Gianfranco Zola, Emmanuel Petit and Graeme Le Saux combining to telling effect down the left side from the early minutes. It was fitting that their third goal, in injury time, was converted by Zola.

Chelsea shrugged off the loss of John Terry with a nasty head-cut in the 10th minute, switching Mario Melchiot to the centre of defence and withdrawing Mario Stanic to right-back to allow Boude-wijn Zenden to operate down the right. In truth, they were totally in command by that stage. Stanic headed a Hassel-baink corner just the wrong side of Steve Simonsen's left-hand upright, while Hasselbaink himself saw a fierce effort repelled by the body of Peter Clarke.

Stanic and Hasselbaink squandered further openings before Everton reminded us that they were on the field, too. Thomas Gravesen, back after suspension, uncorked the best shot so far, forcing an acrobatic save by Carlo Cudicini. It remained the best shot only for a further four minutes, until Hasselbaink weighed in with a goal described by his manager, Claudio Ranieri, as "fantastic". He was right, too.

A rebound from David Weir's body was seized by the Dutch striker, who went round the toppling defender, looked up and floated the ball out of Simonsen's reach from outside the area. The Everton manager, David Moyes, clearly a perfectionist, sniffed that the keeper should not have been so far off his line.

Moyes' summary that his side had been poor in the first half was spot-on, though they did perk up just before the interval after Eidur Gudjohnsen spurned a chance by heading Le Saux's centre wide. At once Niclas Alexandersson got away for Everton and his thunderous effort was turned away by Cudicini, who must have been shaken by the sight of Duncan Ferguson closing in on the loose ball. But the Everton captain spooned a weak effort over the bar.

They were swiftly punished. Having failed to win a free-kick on the edge of Chel-sea's penalty box for what Moyes claimed was "a clear handball", Everton promptly conceded one just outside their own area for Clarke's tackle on Hasselbaink. Zenden backheeled the kick to Hassel-baink and his low shot took a deflection off the wall, leaving Simonsen with no hope.

Though Everton tightened up their act in the second half, it was an indication of their poverty of approach work that their two best chances were provided by sloppiness in the Chelsea defence. The first came just before the hour when Stanic carelessly lost possession, offering Alessandro Pistone a clear run on goal. But the shot lacked enough pace and direction to avoid being blocked by Cudicini's extended left leg.

With a quarter of an hour left, Ranieri rightly considered his side so much in command that he could take off Hasselbaink and give a first-team debut to the tall Carlton Cole.

In fact, Chelsea could have been pulled back to 2-2 in a hectic last five minutes. First, the otherwise commanding Marcel Desailly slipped and Tomas Radzinski was on to the loose ball in a flash. He rounded Cudicini comfortably but left himself too sharp an angle, his shot rolling across the face of an empty goal.

Ferguson, latching on to a cross from the right at point- blank range, could do no better than hit the underside of the bar. So it served Everton right that Zola showed Rad-zinski how it should be done in injury time, scoring from a sharp angle on the left.

"We had three great chances, wonderful opportunities to score, and we didn't take them," Moyes lamented. And are his team safe yet from relegation? "No," he said. "We need more points."

Chelsea 3 Everton 0 Hasselbaink 26, 44, Zola 90

Half-time 2-0 Attendance: 40,545