London: Chelsea easily progressed into the last 16 of the Champions League by beating Spartak Moscow 4-1 on Wednesday, with the English champions scoring all their goals in a second-half masterclass.
Nicolas Anelka opened the scoring from an acute angle in the 49th minute before Didier Drogba, who was Chelsea's captain for the match, doubled the lead from the penalty spot in the 64th after being brought down by Evgeni Makeev.
Drogba then sent over the free kick that was put away by Branislav Ivanovic four minutes later and the centre back grabbed his second in injury time, securing the Blues a fourth successive win in Group F.
Chelsea, one of three teams — with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich — to secure qualification from the group stage with two matches remaining, is now undefeated at home in Champions League group play in 22 games.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti felt the goal by Anelka, the former France striker's 10th of the season and third in fourth matches, changed the complexion of the match.
"The first goal was fantastic and it was the most important goal of the evening," Ancelotti said. "He (Anelka) is in the best form of his career."
Substitute Nikita Bazhenov's consolation for Spartak was sandwiched between Ivanovic's brace and the Russian side stayed second in the group, level on six points with Marseille.
"What we lacked as a team was faith that we could win," Spartak coach Valeri Karpin said. "When we conceded the first goal, it all started to crash."
Chelsea, tournament runner-up in 2008, was without injured midfielders Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda, while manager Carlo Ancelotti kept captain John Terry on the bench and left out Michael Essien completely with qualification almost wrapped up. Ancelotti said Essien was missing because of a minor toe injury.
With four of its key players absent, it was perhaps unsurprising that the English title-holders were slightly off the pace early on against a side they beat 2-0 in Moscow two weeks ago. But they gradually asserted their authority after a slow start, Anelka curling wide in the 15th and Alex miskicking in a goalmouth scramble minutes later.
Drogba, playing his first match in the Champions League this season after serving out a three-match suspension, had a low drive saved by Andriy Dykan and then headed over Yuri Zhirkov's corner.
Spartak was far from being outplayed, though, and looked lively going forward, with fit-again captain Alex fizzing in a drive that was punched clear by goalkeeper Petr Cech.
The final, and best, chance of a low-key first half fell to Chelsea's Alex, who contrived to scoop the ball over the bar from two yards after latching onto Ivanovic's glanced header.
Chelsea came out firing for the second half and Anelka finally put away a chance to give the hosts the lead, clipping in superbly from a narrow angle on the right after being played in by Salomon Kalou's through ball.
The second came from the spot in the 62nd minute after Drobga was sent tumbling by Makeev. The Ivory Coast international got up to convert the penalty low and hard to Dykan's left before supplying the cross from a right-wing free kick that Ivanovic headed down into the corner four minutes later.
A pitch invader, who emerged from the end housing the Spartak fans, held up proceedings for a couple of minutes but it only delayed the inevitable for his side.
Kalou and substitute Daniel Sturridge wasted golden chances to make it 4-0, with Bazhenov sliding in at the far post with four minutes left for Spartak's consolation.
Ivanovic slotted home Chelsea's fourth from close range to complete the scoring and give his manager an opportunity to rest his star players in the final group games, at home to Zilina and away at Marseille.
"It's important we finish in first place in the group now," Ancelotti said. "There's still a long way to go in the tournament. We hope to avoid injuries and keep our squad fit because the Champions League will be decided in February and March."
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