Gudjohnsen leads push towards European goal

Chelsea 4 Everton 1

While qualifying for the Uefa Cup would be celebrated at Everton, it would be greeted with despair at Chelsea. The difference showed at Stamford Bridge yesterday as the London club lifted themselves for a final assault on the Champions' League and Everton subsided in the sun.

Opening the scoring after 25 minutes through Eidur Gudjohnsen, Chelsea added further goals through Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Jesper Gronkjaer and, brilliantly, Gianfranco Zola. Lee Carsley's late reply for Everton was an irrelevance.

The result ensured Chelsea will be in Europe next season, but neither boardroom nor dressing room can rest until a Champions' League place is secured. The bean-counters are acutely aware that only qualification can alleviate a debt-burden approaching £100m.

Fear also concentrates the players' minds, but in their case it is the thought of embarrassment on some unheralded foreign field. Losing to Real Madrid or Juventus is disappointing, but for players like Marcel Desailly and Emmanuel Petit being knocked out by the likes of St Gallen, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Viking Stavanger, as has happened in recent seasons, is humiliating. Zola, for instance, has indicated he would delay his retirement if Chelsea qualify.

It may come down to the final game of the season when Liverpool, two points behind in fifth, with Newcastle in between, visit. Everton will be cheering for Chelsea, little would delight them more than Liverpool having to line up alongside them in the Uefa Cup. First they have to protect a three-point cushion over Blackburn.

Unhappy with the performance, but reluctant to castigate his players, David Moyes, the Everton manager, said: "We conceded poor goals, but it is an achievement just to be competing with these teams."

The difference in the respective squad strengths was illustrated by their contrasting responses to Saturday defeats. While Everton brought in Scott Gemmill and Li Tie, Chelsea refreshed their team with Gudjohnsen, Hasselbaink and Gronkjaer.

Everton initially bridged the gap with effort, but eventually they stood off Hasselbaink, giving him time to find Gudjohnsen drifting off David Weir. When the defender slipped, Gudjohnsen slid in his first goal in 10 weeks.

Chelsea's second, though a fluke, was deserved. Two minutes after the resumption Gronkjaer scooted by Joseph Yobo on the left and crossed. Hasselbaink looped a header over Richard Wright and in off the far post. He admitted: "I was aiming for the near post but it hit the middle of my head."

Gronkjaer's goal, on the hour, came after John Terry's long free-kick dropped over Weir and the Dane neatly controlled and scored. Carsley gave the travelling fans some succour, but in the final minute Zola ran on to a long ball from William Gallas and scored with a sublime chip from a tight angle.

As for Wayne Rooney, it was impossible to tell whether he was perturbed by what is likely to be the first of many spurious attempts to cause trouble for him. So poor was the service he was as much a spectator as the paying customers.

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cudicini 7; Melchiot 6, Terry 6, Desailly 6, Gallas 6; De Lucas 6, Lampard 6, Petit 8, Gronkjaer 8 (Le Saux, 87); Gudjohnsen 6 (Cole, 84), Hasselbaink 7 (Zola, 80). Substitutes not used: De Goey (gk), Stanic.

Everton (4-4-2): Wright 4; Yobo 3 (Hibbert 4, 52), Weir 2, Stubbs 4, Unsworth 5 (Gravesen 5, 52); Carsley 5, Gemmill 5, Li Tie 4 (Ferguson, 76), Naysmith 4; Campbell 3, Rooney 4. Substitutes not used: Gerrard (gk), Alexandersson.

Referee: M Riley (Leeds) 6.