RAMPANT ESSIEN FEEDS WOLVES TO THE DOGS

MICHAEL ESSIEN was dubbed The Train by Jose Mourinho and called The Bison by Guus Hiddink - but Carlo Ancelotti has yet to come up with a nickname for the Ghanaian.

"For me his is just Michael," said a deadpan Ancelotti.

Given that Chelsea's Italian boss is apparently enjoying picking up Cockney rhyming slang, he might think of dubbing Essien The Dogs.

As in the dogs b******s because that's what Essien was as he inspired this emphatic victory, which emphasised the strength of Chelsea's squad and their title credentials.

In the absence of the injured Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba, Essien took on the role of talisman in some style.

He scored twice - it might have been five - and was the constant energiser as the Blues chalked up another home win to set a new record.

This was 12 wins on the spin at the Bridge, beating the previous best in 2006.

And 10 consecutive clean sheets equals a record dating back to 1927 as Essien caned Mick McCarthy's struggling side.

The game was gone in 60 seconds

In the fourth minute, Wolves should have taken the lead.

Striker Matthew Jarvis wheeled out on to the right wing, surged past Ashley Cole and sent over the most inviting of low crosses, which cut out Chelsea keeper Petr Cech.

Midfielder David Edwards had raced into the box but his lack of anticipation meant he slid in a fraction too late when he should been there to meet the ball and toe poke home.

And within a minute Chelsea, or rather Florent Malouda, swept up the other end to opening the scoring - and effectively end the contest.

Jody Craddock made a complete hash of what should have been a routine clearance when he dollied an Alex hoof straight to Malouda's feet inside the centre circle.

Despite the error, there should have been plenty of time for Craddock and the rest of the Wanderers defence to recover - but their frailty was being brutally exposed.

Malouda did nothing other than make a bee line for goal, not believing his luck that Craddock and Richard Stearman. kept on back pedalling.

The France winger kept on going and going until he was 20 yards out when it suddenly dawned on the Wolves defender it might be an idea to put a challenge in.

Too late. Malouda let fly with a ferocious strike which fizzed past Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey inside the right hand post.

It was one-way traffic after that. It seemed strange that Wolves boss McCarthy had opted for a 3-5-2 formation given a reshaped Blues had gone with just Nikolas Anelka up front.

Maybe the idea was to try and flood the midfield but it just didn't work. With their wing backs, Wolves were still effectively outnumbered through the middle because of the way the Chelsea engine room was set up.

Essien sat deep alongside Mikel but in the absence of Lampard and Ballack, he had greater licence to roam forward.

Wolves just couldn't handle Essien and were baffled how to handle the movement of Joe Cole, Malouda and also Salomon Kalou.

It meant it was all too easy for Chelsea.

Their second goal which confirmed the outcome came after just 12 minutes - and was as soft as they come.

No one picked up Essien as he raced to the front post and met Malouda's right-wing corner with a bullet header.

And in the 22nd minute Essien made it 3-0 when he let fly from the edge of the area for his second.

True, the shot took a little deflection but it was still poor goalkeeping as Hennessey allowed the ball to squirm under his body.

OKAY: Joe Cole is back and firing

There was an obvious gulf in class across the pitch and six minutes before half-time Cech emphasised the chasm between himself and his Welsh international opposite number. Czech stopper Cech got down to his left to superbly turn a Sylvan Ebanks-Blake header around the post. After that, the Stamford Bridge No 1 was not troubled but Hennessey was. Constantly.

In the 56th minute he had another 'mare when he allowed Joe Cole's effort from the edge of the area beat him far too easily.

Just back from long injury absence, it was Cole's first goal in a year.

Essien then went on a mission to score a hat-trick. Three long-distance strikes flew just wide while Hennessey managed to tip another on to the bar.

Chelsea were so in control that Ancelotti was then able to have a glimpse into the future.

In the 59th minute, 18-year-old Gael Kakuta - whose controversial signing from Lens first saw the player banned for four month and the club suffer a transfer ban - come on and offer some a few flashes of real class.

Young Serb forward Nemanja Matic, 21, and Italian striker Fabio Borini, 18, arrived soon after and did enough to suggest this squad has more quality in depth than most outsiders think.

And it also showed that the loss of four stars to the African Nations Cup in January may not be as devastating as some observers are predicting.

Certainly Chelsea will go into next Sunday's clash against Arsenal believing they can really set down a marker and prove that their only real title rivals this season are Manchester United.

Sensibly, McCarthy has already stressed to his players they are in for the long haul at the bottom.

It might just help their cause if they actually look like a Wolves side whenever possible.

There was no need to swap their famous old gold shirts for an insipid white change strip yesterday.

McCarthy didn't seem to know why when asked and sighed: "What you trying to say, s*** kit and we get beat?"

In a way. Wolves performed just how they looked: a right old Two and Eight.

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