Ruthless Chelsea rout sorry Reds

Liverpool 1 Chelsea 4

The fifth meeting of the year between the sides, the second in five days, offered by far the most entertainment, but the Premiership champions, as Rafa Benitez discovered yesterday, are switched on ominous autopilot at the moment.

Liverpool’s heaviest home defeat since December 1969 owed much to some benevolent defending in the second half - 45 minutes that vividly illustrated Chelsea’s stranglehold on the title.