Drogba at the double for Blues

Chelsea looked set to join Manchester United at the top of the table after easing to a comfortable 2-0 lead at half-time

The visitors stuck doggedly to their game plan and restricted the champions early on, with Didier Drogba's header over one of few chances.

But the Frenchman opened the scoring in the 27th minute when he fired home from close-range following Andriy Shevchenko's touch on the near post.

It was two nine minutes later when Drogba latched on to Shevchenko's through-ball and fired across Ben Foster from a tight angle.

Middlesbrough and West Ham struggled to create chances in a goalless opening period at the Riverside.

Boro edged a tight first half but were restricted to long-range efforts from Stewart Downing and

James Morrison.

Yakubu had a clear sight of goal in first-half injury-time but was denied by a Danny Gabbidon challenge.

Aston Villa led Everton 1-0 at the interval at Goodison Park.

Martin O'Neill's men claimed a deserved lead after 42 minutes when a fine move culminated with Chris Sutton glancing home Isaiah Osbourne's cross for his first Villains goal.

Andrew Johnson hit the post for Everton and Tim Howard did well to tip Stiliyan Petrov's shot around the post.

Wigan led Charlton 2-0 at the interval at the JJB Stadium following two route one goals.

The home side took the lead in the 13th minute when Lee McCulloch collected Chris Kirkland's long punt and fired clinically past another Liverpool loanee Scott Carson.

Henri Camara (41) made it two when he raced on to another long Kirkland kick and fired home first time.

An El-Hadji Diouf strike gave Bolton a 1-0 lead against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Kevin Davies had a clear sight of the Blades goal, but delayed his shot and was tackled brilliantly by Chris Morgan.

However, Diouf made no mistake in the 34th minute when he curled a fine shot past a stranded Paddy Kenny.

Portsmouth and Fulham remained goalless after the home side dominated the first half at Fratton Park.

Pompey came close to taking the lead through Lomano LuaLua, but his dipping free-kick was tipped brilliantly over by Antti Niemi.

Liam Rosenior's cross, tipped over by David James, was the closest the Cottagers came.

In today's early kick-off, strugglers Manchester City and Newcastle fought out a drab 0-0 draw at Eastlands

Joey Barton's long-range effort, saved comfortably by Steve Harper, was the closest either side came to scoring in a scrappy opening half.

Georgios Samaras had a goal harshly ruled out for a foul by Micah Richards after the break, with replays showing the England youngster's alleged push had been perpetrated on team-mate Bernardo Corradi.