Chelsea fire eight past hapless Villa

The home fans were celebrating again in the 34th minute when Gary Cahill’s deflected shot drew a parry from Guzan but Ivanovic was on hand to head the rebound high into the net.

Villa emerged for the second half in damage-limitation mode, but they had a let-off within five minutes as Guzan tipped a rasping Mata drive over the bar.

Benteke relieved the pressure by winning a corner after a run and shot from deep, but Chelsea had no problem clearing their lines and might even have scored on the counter-attack but Ashley Cole blazed over.

Guzan denied Torres a second with another fantastic reaction save in the 56th minute, while the Villa goalkeeper also denied Moses in a one-on-one situations seconds later.

But the American was helpless to prevent Lampard adding a fourth in the 58th minute, the England midfielder marking his return to the starting XI with a wonderful low strike from 25 yards, becoming Chelsea’s all-time leading league goalscorer in the process.

Lampard was withdrawn on the hour to be replaced by Ramires, and five minutes later Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech was finally called into meaningful action as he deflected Weimann’s low shot onto the crossbar.

Oscar was brought on as Benitez opted to rest Torres ahead of the busy festive programme, and the Brazilian should have marked his arrival with a goal in the 68th minute but screwed his shot wide.

Lucas Piazon entered the fray to make his Premier League debut as Mata’s replacement in the 74th minute, and within seconds the 18-year-old had his first top-flight assist as his perfectly-weighted pass found Ramires who slotted under Guzan.

In the 79th minute Oscar was bundled over in the area by Chris Herd and the Blues midfielder picked himself up to plant his penalty beyond a dispirited Guzan.

Four minutes later it was seven as Hazard received the ball in the area and turned smartly away from his marker before burying the ball high into the left corner of the net.

It might have been eight in the final minute after Piazon won a penalty after a foul by Ciaran Clark, but the debutant could not add to Villa’s misery as Guzan guessed right to make a good save.

Yet there was still time for Villa to suffer further humiliation as Ramires turned home Oscar’s pass beyond a clearly fed up Guzan, who could only wearily pat the ball into the back of the net.