Carlo Ancelotti's tenure as Chelsea manager may be about to end this summer, if rumours are to be believed, but his players showed they are still determined to fight for the Italian with a crushing victory at West Brom.

After Peter Odemwingie had given Albion a 17th-minute lead, the Blues replied with three first-half goals from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Frank Lampard.

If Chelsea and Ancelotti are to finish the season with little more than a consolation of a Champions League place for next term, then they are going about it the right way.

Ancelotti's side have now lost just one of their last 11 matches in the Barclays Premier League, winning eight of those, to cut the gap to Manchester United at the top of the table to eight points.

This was also Chelsea's 14th consecutive top-flight victory against the Baggies, bringing to an end the unbeaten six-match run enjoyed by Roy Hodgson since he took over the managerial helm at the The Hawthorns in February.

Up until the midway point of the first half, and in the wake of Chelsea's Champions League exit at the hands of Manchester United in midweek, a shock appeared genuinely on the cards.

Albion had started the game brightly, and their opener was richly deserved, not least for the exquisite way in which Odemwingie finished a four-man move.

The Baggies, via a series of short passes that involved Youssouf Mulumbu, James Morrison and Jerome Thomas, picked their way up the centre of the pitch from the halfway line.

Thomas' final ball to Odemwingie took a slight ricochet off John Terry, but the pass still found its intended target who sprinted into the area before deftly flicking the ball over the advancing Petr Cech.

It was Odemwingie's 12th Premier League goal of the season, setting a new club record, beating the previous best by Rob Earnshaw in 2005.

However, Albion went into this game with an unenviable record of not having kept a clean sheet for 30 top-flight games, with that soon extended to 31 as Chelsea hit back in the 22nd minute.

A string of passes culminated in Ashley Cole's ball down the left finding Kalou, who delivered a low cross into the six-yard box that goalkeeper Scott Carson failed to push away.