Chelsea strike a happy note

Chelsea 4 Watford 0

This week alone Chelsea have been linked with interest in Louis Saha, Christian Vieri and David Trezeguet.

However, Adrian Mutu (2), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen chose the perfect moment to underline their own scoring prowess by leading Chelsea to a 4-0 win against first Division Watford.

And there was the added bonus of Damien Duff making his long-awaited return from injury as a substitute as he set up Gudjohnsen for Chelsea’s late fourth.

Ranieri, who vowed to give non-League Scarborough a real “battle” in their enticing fourth round tie, declared: “It was important for the strikers to score because goals are like oxygen to them.

“When they score, they are happy and the manager is happy.”

Chelsea were yesterday said to have made an inquiry about Fulham striker Saha, but Ranieri was quick to dismiss reports linking them with a renewed bid to sign Vieri.

“I don’t know how many Italian journalists have called me today to tell me that Vieri was coming,” he revealed.

“Oh yes, I told them, I’m going to the station to pick him up! But it’s not true. You know me well, you know I don’t answer these questions.”

Ranieri had also earlier insisted Joe Cole was not about to be traded for Charlton’s Scott Parker, in whom the Blues evidently have an interest.

Ranieri was also impressed at the way in which Mutu, who had ended his 13-game goal drought last Sunday at Leicester, struck twice against Watford.

“This is the life of a goalscorer. You try to do everything well and you don’t score. Now, in two matches, he has scored twice and can play with a little more confidence,” he added.

“Is his best still to come? Yes, of course. The link between Jimmy and Eidur is a little better as they are used to playing together for several years.

“Adrian’s only been here a few months but he’s an intelligent player and he can achieve this too.”

While Watford benefited from referee Alan Wiley’s decision to award them a goal in the first match even though Heidar Helguson’s header had not crossed the line, this time the official made amends.

Although the offside flag was raised when Mutu swept home the ball after just seven minutes, Wiley correctly ruled that it had actually been passed to him inadvertently by Neal Ardley.

Watford boss Ray Lewington admitted: “It was the thing we were all dreading. We relaxed when the flag went up as we thought it had been disallowed but we’ve got no doubts that it came off Ardley.

“We had a huge slice of luck in the first game so we’re not about to complain about that today.”

Lewington, whose side had led twice in the original match, added: “We’ve been beaten by a quality team and I can’t ask any more from my players.

“We had a chance in the first game, which we didn’t take, and they’ve come out worthy winners.”

CHELSEA: Cudicini, Melchiot, Terry, Gallas (Huth 82), Babayaro, Gronkjaer, Lampard, Makelele, Cole, Mutu (Duff 80), Hasselbaink (Gudjohnsen 70).

WATFORD: Pidgeley, Ardley, Cox, Gayle, Smith, Devlin, Hyde, Mahon, Hand (Doyley 82), Cook (Fitzgerald 58), Dyer (Webber 58).

Referee: A Wiley (Staffordshire).