Chelsea 6-1 Queens Park Rangers

Posted Monday, April 30, 2012 by ESPN

Chelsea are brimming with confidence after a comprehensive 6-1 thumping of QPR at Stamford Bridge with Fernando Torres completing a hat-trick.

It was Chelsea from start to finish, with Sturridge opening the scoring with just 45 seconds on the clock.

Terry then headed in Mata's corner and Torres grabbed his hat-trick against a hapless QPR side. Malouda scored Chelsea sixth goal before Cisse put away a consolation goal for the visitors.

Chelsea

Petr Cech - 6.5
Virtually nothing to do in the game until he awkwardly pushed away a shot from Mackie. Cisse then appeared out of nowhere to rob him of his clean sheet bonus.

John Terry - 7.5
Delivered the goods when all eyes were on the Chelsea skipper. Dominant in the air and continued to venture forward even though his side were four goals up!

José Bosingwa (82' off) - 7
Partnered Terry in the heart of the Chelsea defence. He wasn't too adventurous, always taking the safe option of a back pass.

Ashley Cole - 7
A perfect balance of attack and defence down the left for Chelsea. Unfortunately for him, the only time he was caught out of position saw Cisse find the back of the net.

Paulo Ferreira - 6.5
A stroll in the park for him as Cisse had a disappointing game. With the injuries and the games coming thick and fast, he'll have to be on top of his game if Chelsea wants to end the season with silverware.

Frank Lampard - 7.5
Did not show any signs of fatigue with his incredible work rate in this match. Pulled the strings from midfield and was involved in almost all of Chelsea's attack.

Michael Essien - 6.5
A simple player with a simple task of guarding his untroubled back four, allowing his team mates freedom to move around the pitch.

Salomon Kalou (73' off) - 6.5
An inch perfect pass with the right amount of pace in the ball set up Torres for his first goal. Plenty of running and desire in the wide positions.

Daniel Sturridge - 7
46 seconds after kick-off he relieved his team of any pressure whatsoever by scoring a goal from outside the box. Looked dangerous everytime he had the ball and ran tirelessly.

Juan Mata (67' off) - 8
A great debut season for the Spainard who apart from Cech, has featured in more games than any other Chelsea player. Intelligent with the ball and always has an eye for a killer pass with two assists to his name in the game to prove it.

Fernando Torres - 9.5
The 50m splashed on him finally paying dividends? Continued where he left off at the Nou Camp - confidently taking on the Rangers defenders and sealing his first Chelsea hat-trick in the 64th minute. Surely the good old days are back for El Nino.

Substitutes

Florent Malouda (67' on) - 6
Added to Ranger's woes after slotting home Chelsea's fifth goal from the edge of the six yard box.

Ramires (73' on) - 6
Came on to provide an assist and ran non stop at tired Q.P.R. players.

Sam Hutchinson (82' on)
N/A

Queens Park Rangers

Patrick Kenny - 4.5
No keeper would like to be at the end of a six goal battering, especially when goal difference could mean avoiding the drop.

Clint Hill - 5
A few months ago marking Torres would be a piece of cake, but not in this game. To make matters worse, he allowed Terry to climb above him to double the home side's lead.

Anton Ferdinand - 4
He may look like his brother but on the pitch he is a far cry from Rio. Helplessly watching blue shirts run circles around him and he looked lost most of the time.

Taye Taiwo - 5
Kalou and Sturridge repeatedly sashayed past this man, who should have remained on the bench.

Nedum Onuoha - 6.5
A defensive mix up between him and the keeper resulted in Chelsea's fourth goal. A remarkable sportsman nonetheless, throwing himself into every ball regardless of the score.

Akos Buzsaky (65' off) - 5
A below average player who had difficulty keeping possession for his side. Was a liability to his team.

Shaun Derry - 6.5
The midfield destroyer did his part in breaking up Chelsea's play whenever possible, but the likes of Lampard and Mata proved too much for him.

Jamie Mackie - 6
Tried to support the lonely Zamora but his side could not keep possession long enough to create half a chance to score.

Joey Barton - 4.5
Tested the referee's patience and eventually got booked on the hour mark after a series of poor tackles. A gifted passer of the ball but he was anonymous in this game.

Bobby Zamora (78' off) - 6.5
Despite having the muscle to hold off defenders and being good in the air, his team mates just could not find their target man and poor Zamora was left wandering around like a headless chicken.

Djibril Cissé - 5.5
The man who has already seen two red cards in his short spell is definitely in the running for the Premier League's worst buy of the season. Gave away possession cheaply and was seen jogging around the pitch with no sense of urgency. Managed to put the ball past Cech in the 84th minute but it was too little too late.

Substitutions

Armand Traore (65' on) - 6.5
A decent passer of the ball into the penalty area but should have been introduced much earlier to at least make Terry and Bosingwa break a sweat.

Shaun Wright Phillips (78' on)