ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Chelsea 3 Tottenham 0:THE FIRE and brimstone may have been reserved for a venue 320km further north, but the Premier League leadership remains in west London.

Chelsea’s serene progress under Carlo Ancelotti was maintained with a sixth consecutive victory that restored their three-point advantage at the top while most were still digesting events at Old Trafford. The Italian’s perfect start almost feels as if it has slipped in under the radar.

The run of wins needs to be put into context. This was actually a club record 11th win in succession – another Jose Mourinho record has been eclipsed – yet it was Chelsea’s sternest test this season.

A combination of Tottenham Hotspur’s profligacy and an oversight by the referee, Howard Webb, contributed to the hosts extending their sequence.

Spurs left crying injustice, after Robbie Keane’s penalty appeals were rejected when the visitors were only one goal behind.

In truth, the tide had turned by then. It was the ping of Ledley King’s hamstring three minutes into the second half that truly signalled that this game would be beyond Tottenham. By the end they had been buried as Didier Drogba, liberated from his marker’s shackles, bulldozed them into submission. The Ivorian still tumbles to the ground too easily, but he is simply devastating when he builds up a head of steam and stays on his feet.

Spurs, wounded at the heart of their defence, parted for him as the game slipped away. The cramp that curtailed the striker’s afternoon was a blessing, though Tottenham had long since been bloodied and bruised.

Ancelotti said in the aftermath that his team could win key contests without their talismanic forward, pointing to the narrow success over Porto in midweek as evidence, though his anxiety as he awaits news on the forward’s calf today will betray the reality.

The goal Drogba scored just after the hour, latching on to Jose Bosingwa’s punt to outpace and outmuscle Vedran Corluka and poke the ball around Carlo Cudicini before slamming it into the empty net, was his fifth of the league season.

Yet his game cannot be measured purely in weight of goals.

Too many opponents shrink in his mere presence. King was not one of them – the strength the centre-half showed in holding off the forward towards the end of the first half brought a smile of admiration from Drogba – but Spurs’ best defender could not suppress him on his own.

The forward merely ventured wider on the field, to find the space and time to whip in the cross that Ashley Cole, sprinting, unnoticed, beyond the hapless Corluka at the far post, converted.

Once King had retreated, Tottenham only wilted. The substitute Alan Hutton seemed frozen in blind panic as Drogba cushioned Bosingwa’s cross on his chest and drew a save from Cudicini.

Frank Lampard reacted from the rebound, dragging the ball back for Michael Ballack to bundle it into the unguarded net.

The visitors seemed distracted at that point, still fuming as they were at Webb’s decision to ignore Ricardo Carvalho’s clipping of Keane’s ankle as the forward veered into the box. Yet, Spurs’ best chance had been spurned much earlier, when their dominance of the game had merited a lead.

Harry Redknapp’s bold selection, granting Aaron Lennon and Keane licence to roam, had unnerved the hosts and Jermain Defoe, Jermaine Jenas and Tom Huddlestone might all have scored in a frantic four-minute spell around the quarter-hour.

This is a team that knows only how to pour forward, yet it was in those missed opportunities that this game was effectively passed up. Chelsea are too canny to allow opponents off the hook, though they must learn from their own flashes of indiscipline.

Spurs are hugely improved – they will await news on the head injury that saw Sebastien Bassong leave for hospital in a neck brace - but better teams would have punished Chelsea’s sloppiness.

Ancelotti and his players had watched the Manchester derby prior to kick-off – it was a “fantastic, unbelievable game”, the manager said – and they are due to host Liverpool and the champions within the next seven weeks. Such sides may prove more ruthless than Spurs did here.

“But I’m only worried about making sure that Chelsea play well and win,” said Ancelotti. “That is all that is important.”

For now, his team can bask in a lead at the top. Guardian Service