Champions in cruise control

English FA Premiership/ Charlton Athletic 0 Chelsea 2: Let's rise up in support of the downtrodden and disgruntled of football society, the people struggling to make it to the rich man's gate. That is enough about the fans. What about the lumpen secondary division of the Premiership?

The masses priced out of the contest by the new plutocrats of Chelsea? A 27,111 crowd - another record for Charlton's redeveloping home - defied the turnstile trend and forked out £35 a head (with concessions for certain age groups) to watch this summit meeting. They then saw the debate increasingly dominated by one speaker. It never really sounded as if Charlton's fans believed in any other outcome. And it never really looked as if their team believed, either.

In this unequal battle a single goal in defeat would have been some kind of scalp for Charlton. Instead the Chelsea wall remained intact, setting a Premiership record of nine hours unbreached from the season's start. Scoring two without reply would have taken Charlton top but that was the mission accomplished by Jose Mourinho's team, with goals of the highest order.

Short of burying Chelsea, Alan Curbishley would at least have liked to leave a mark on the leaders before praising them. This he did in spadefuls, not only citing the pedigree of their players but also their physical qualities.

"They're so powerful, so strong," said Charlton's manager. "They are athletes, exceptional." Against this superhuman force, what is the Premiership to do? "You've got to believe," he said when asked if Chelsea were "unstoppable". But this sounded like a desperate plea for genuine competition in the Premiership.

The reasons for believing were unconvincing, along the lines that there is always a faster gun somewhere. After all, he added, "someone stopped Arsenal".

That would be Chelsea. The problem is that Chelsea are packing a financial super-gun.

The champions have strengthened since May in all departments. They have restored a happier Hernan Crespo, who delivered a bullet header. When they want the bludgeoning effect, they can bring on Didier Drogba.

Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole were also given walk-on parts as Mourinho again shuffled his wide cards. In defence they have Asier del Horno to return. And the rampaging Michael Essien is surely above rotation, and not just because the midfielder cost £24.4m .

Essien, free to roam, dispossessed Radostin Kishishev inside Chelsea's half and in the next stride released Crespo whose toe-poked effort hit a post. After William Gallas also hit the woodwork, Essien again supplied Crespo and a superbly placed header put the visitors ahead.

One goal would have been enough to see off a Charlton side looking distinctly flattered by second place. When Chelsea eagerly sought a second goal, it came quickly and stylishly with Damien Duff pulling the ball back for Arjen Robben to curl home a superb effort from just inside the area. "That's why we're champions," chorused the visiting fans.

Charlton's 100 per cent record was gone and Darren Bent's own run of scoring in every game ended in front of Sven-Goran Eriksson's eyes. Bent blazed one opportunity over but the lone striker was easily broken by a Chelsea defence inspired by the implacable captain John Terry.

Creatively Charlton missed the Chelsea auxiliary Alexei Smertin in midfield, absent because of loan regulations. But they still had their chances.

Tellingly, when Jerome Thomas had the first, he was distracted by four blue shirts and shot badly wide. Dennis Rommedahl went close with a low drive. Chris Perry and Darren Ambrose threatened late on but Petr Cech still had no save to make.

"I'm going to look at the stats," said Curbishley, "and I'm going to find that Chelsea probably worked harder than us in sprints, et cetera - and that doesn't happen to us. If we turned up and had a race, the majority of their players would win it. If we went in to the gym, they'd win on the weights."

Before the game Mourinho presented Curbishley with an engraved clock after his 600th game in charge of Charlton. It was the champions' sole example of generosity to their hosts.

* Guardian Service