CLASS ACT'S A HARD LESSON; One-sided contest leaves Wolves reeling: CHELSEA 4 Malouda, 3 mins, Essien 12, 22 mins, J Cole 56 mins WOLVES 0.

Byline: BILL HOWELL

THE MERCY for Wolves and Mick McCarthy was that the Championselect did not rattle up a cricket score in as one-sided a contest as you are ever likely to see.

Chelsea managed to beat Wayne Hennessey four times but continually peppered the Welshman's goal to open up what was initially an eight point gap at the top of the Premier League.

Michael Essien was simply unstoppable - a class above anything else - but it was grown men against toddlers all over the park.

McCarthy has seen his side concede eight goals in their last twomatches - not the ideal preparation for a huge local derby against Blues next Sunday.

They remain in deep trouble in the bottom two but at least they now have some respite away from the Big Four.

It was 5-2 and 5-0 to Chelsea the last time these two met and it is hard to fathom how Carlo Ancelotti's men did not at least equal those hauls.

It took the woodwork to deny Essien a wonderful goal as his long-range strike was tipped onto the crossbar with a brilliant piece of goalkeeping by Hennessey. Whilst at the other end Petr Cech performed simply world-class heroics in de-flecting Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's first half header around the post with the agility of a Chinese gymnast.

Despite the avalanche of pressure that was to come their way it was actually Wolves who were quicker to settle. Ebanks-Blake released Matt Jarvis and his low ball was arrowing towards David Edwards in the penalty area until it was cut out by Juliano Belletti. In a second scare for the home side, going for a club record ten successive clean sheets, Jarvis sped around England skipper Terry but his shot was deflected over the crossbar Rocket The pity forWolveswas that in-between they had fallen behind. A poor clearance by Jody Craddock was gobbled up by French winger Florent Malouda. He was a long way out but the Wolves defence backed off and Malouda unleashed a rocket from 25 yards. It was predictably one way traffic thereon in.

Essien found Salomon Kalou whose shot was tipped around the post by Hennessey.

But any satisfaction he may have had was short-lived when Chelsea scored from the corner. Essien was somehow allowed a free header at the near post to Malouda's inswinger.

Kalou shot marginally over from outside the box after the ball broke away from a crestfallen Craddock.

Midway inside the first half it was 3-0 with Chelsea stroking the ball across the Wolves area, waiting for an opening.

That opening duly arrivedwhenWolves failed to close Essien who smashed his effort into the net courtesy of a slight de-flection from Christophe Berra. Even so, Hennessey certainly seemed to be culpable of a major error as the ball all too easily appeared to go through him.

Hennessey was struggling now and completely missed Essien's ball which flew across his penalty area. Then Joe Cole miss-kicked just eight yards out.

The game may already have been effectively over when Cech produced his moment of magic. Ebanks-Blake's downward header would have been enough to beat the very best as he got betweenTerry and Ashley Cole to Jarvis' cross.

Back came a relentless Chelsea and it was Hennessey's turn once again to deny Malouda.

At the start of the second half Nicolas Anelka dinked in Juliano Belletti inside the area. The full-back rounded Hennessey but went too wide and then mistakenly tapped the ball back to the keeper. Defender Alex spurned a good chance by miss-hitting straight to Hennessey from close range.

But it was soon 4-0 through Joe Cole after Anelka's cross had been tapped back into his path by Kalou. Hennessey got a touch but could not prevent the ball flying inside his left-hand post.

Chelsea had half an hour to rub salt into the wound but a combination of reckless finishing and ill-fortune kept them at bay.

Essien let fly with a terrific strike from 30 yards out that was dipping viciously before Hennessey's strong arm deflected it onto the crossbar.

Mikel waltzed through their battered defence and teed up Essien who hit the side netting. Essien thundered another 25yarder inches wide from awell-worked free-kick.

Yet despite their struggles Wolves almost breached the Chelsea rearguard with Jarvis showing a blistering turn of speed to get him into the box only for his square ball to be turned behind by Terry.

ForWolves the finalwhistlewas a blessed relief.

CHELSEA (4-4-2): Cech; Belletti, Terry, Alex, A. Cole; J. Cole, Essien, Mikel, Malouda (Matic,70); Anelka (Kakuta,59), Kalou (Borini.79). Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Ferreira.

WOLVES (4-5-1): Hennessey; Halford, Craddock, Berra, Stearman; Edwards, Henry, Surman, Castillo (Kightly, 53), Jarvis; Ebanks-Blake (Keogh,62). Subs: Hahnemann, Elokobi, Milijas, Foley, Maierhofer. STAR MAN: Jarvis.

CAPTION(S):

SALUTE: Salomon Kalou lifts Joe Cole who grabbed Chelsea's fourth. DESPAIR: Wolves' Wayne Hennessey as Florent Malouda celebrates. LIFT-OFF: Jody Craddock, above, soars for Wolves to beat Chelsea's Joe Cole to the ball. HITMAN: Michael Essien, left, celebrates scoring Chelsea's second goal.