Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea continued their 100% record in the Premier League following their destruction of London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, with a pretty convincing win. The game didn't match-up to the excitement of the other derby of the day (Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City), but the game did offer some excitement, as well as an interesting performance by the match's referee. It could also prove to be a damning game for Tottenham, who suffered further injuries to an already stretched and depleted central defence.

The Blues moved back to the top of the Premier League and maintained their lead of 3 points over Manchester United, who had grabbed a dramatic and last-gasp winner against City only hours earlier. Six games into the season and it is clear to see that Ancelotti has got his team playing for each other, with passion and determination, and could prove to be the right man to fulfil the dreams of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic.

But, to Tottenham. Harry Redknapp changed the system of his team in the run up to the match. Still without his favourite midfield man Luka Modric, and up against a Chelsea midfield filled with the likes of Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien, Redknapp opted to pick a midfield to counter Chelsea's. Jermaine Jenas was named in the starting line-up together with Tom Huddlestone and Wilson Palacious, who formed Tottenham's midfield core. Aaron Lennon and Robbie Keane were pushed onto the wings, with Jermain Defoe the central striker. However, this formation and strategy seemed to limit the width that Tottenham could offer while enabling Chelsea's attacking wing-backs to push forward and really get at their Tottenham counterparts.

Indeed it was former Gunner, and left-back, Ashley Cole who grabbed Chelsea's first just after the half hour mark when he beat a seemingly oblivious Vedran Corluka at the far post to header past Carlo Cudicini in the Tottenham goal. I won't claim that the goal was against the run of play, but up until that point, Spurs had shown themselves to be confident at stroking the ball around and creating some chances. Jermain Defoe should have gotten Tottenham a goal when put cleanly through, but Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal was upto the task.

The 2nd half seemed to be one from hell for Spurs. Firstly, they were denied a clear penalty when Ricardo Carvalho clipped Robbie Keane in the penalty area. Add to that losing both of their center-backs, conceding two further goals, and losing the match, and it's safe to say that Harry Redknapp and Tottenham would have been happy to see the back of Sunday 20th September.

Just 3 minutes after Tottenham's rejected penalty claims, Michael Ballack doubled the lead and made any chance of a Tottenham comeback that much less likely. It came about due to great determination by Frank Lampard to chase the rebound, and his expert comeback was bundled in by the veteran German midfielder (please note Vedran Corluka looking lost after the initial shot). However, yet again, a bad call by the referee has proven to be a game-killer for the Spurs, and Harry Redknapp made that clear in his post-match remarks.

From that point on it seemed to be a question of "how many would Chelsea score?" as opposed to "can Tottenham make a comeback?". Didier Drogba added further insult to injury to the Lilywhites in the 63rd minute and Redknapp seemed unsure or unwilling to make any changes, but had been forced into replacing inspirational figure Ledley King, who pulled up with a hamstring injury in the 48th minute.

Rednapp decided to throw on Peter Crouch after Chelsea's 3rd goal, and Tottenham immediately launched long balls forward to try to capitalise on the tall target man's presence. Crouch did manage to put the ball in the back of the net but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside.

Matters became worse for Spurs in the 82nd minute when Sebastien Bassong thumped his head on the ground after a tussle with Anelka.

Chelsea have not lost at home to Spurs since 1990, and it didn't seem as if it was going to be Tottenham's day on this occasion either. While I don't really want to fall back on criticisms of the referee's performance as a reason for the result, I do believe that Howard Webb mishandled pretty much the entire game. Players from both teams seemed to be overly excited in their challenges, and their was a fair share of man-handling going on. I wouldn't have been suprised if the commentator had informed me that it was a wrestling match and it would have been interesting to see what the impact would have been if there had been the "awesome" extra assistant referees in place.

Next up, Spurs travel to Preston in the Carling Cup 3rd round, and Redknapp will most likely be forced into naming some of his squad players and I hope he uses the opportunity to give a run-out to some of the players that have shown some promise. Tottenham's next run of matches in the Premier League will prove to be critical, and the team will need to win agains the likes of Burnley, Bolton, Portsmouth and Sunderland if they are to continue to challenge for a European place in the league.