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Chelsea, Arsenal hit opponents for six in league

Chelsea and Arsenal crushed their Premier League opponents 6-0 on Saturday in ruthless displays of their title credentials.

Nicolas Anelka and Salomon Kalou scored two goals each for Chelsea at Wigan, a week after the defending champions condemned West Bromwich Albion to the same 6-0 defeat in the season-opener.

Chelsea had only led through Florent Malouda’s goal at half time, but Anelka quickly netted twice after the break and after Yossi Benayoun completed the rout in stoppage time following Kalou’s double.

“We scored six but we suffered a lot in the first half,” Chelsea striker Didier Drogba said. “The fact that we scored quickly at the start of the second half settled us down a lot.”

Arsenal responded to its draw at Liverpool by routing newcomer Blackpool, with Theo Walcott scoring his first hat trick for the club as it chases its first title since 2004.

“What was pleasing today with Theo was that he made the right decisions in the final third and was calm in front of goal,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “He could finish but also give final balls. That shows he has improved.”

Tottenham, which finally broke into the Premier League’s top four last season, relied on Gareth Bale’s double to edge Stoke 2-1.

Craig Gardner also scored twice as Birmingham beat Blackburn 2-1, Johan Elmander’s pair helped Bolton win 3-1 at West Ham, Peter Odemwingie scored on his West Bromwich Albion debut to clinch a 1-0 victory over Sunderland, and Wolverhampton held Everton 1-1.

At the DW Stadium, Chelsea took its goal tally in its last five league matches to 29 goals — stretching back into last season when the west London club put eight past Wigan to win the title.

Wigan has already conceded 10 this season, after being stunned 4-0 by Blackpool last Saturday.

Malouda tapped in Chelsea’s opener in the 34th minute after goalkeeper Chris Kirkland parried Frank Lampard’s effort.

After the break, Anelka’s clinical finish and a close-range header by the 52nd put the game beyond reach for Wigan.

Didier Drogba set up Kalou to slot home in the 78th and turned provided again in stoppage time, with the Ivory Coast forward heading in a second goal after Kirkland flapped at the incoming cross.

There was still time for Yossi Benayoun to get on the scoresheet after sending Paulo Ferreira’s pull-back into the far corner.

Around 3,000 Blackpool fans traveled to London buoyed by a dazzling Premier League debut last weekend, but there would be no repeat of the 4-0 victory over Wigan as the northwest side faced a ruthless attacking display.

A neat passing move ripped Blackpool apart down the left flank for Arsenal’s 12th-minute opener. Andrei Arshavin fed Marouane Chamakh and the offseason recruit from Bordeaux laid the ball off to Tomas Rosicky, who returned the ball to Arshavin.

The Russia forward teed up an unmarked Walcott on the right of the penalty to fire into the bottom left corner of the net.

Walcott continued to torment the visitors, but Arsenal’s second goal didn’t come for another 20 minutes.

Chamakh latched onto Rosicky’s throughball and earned a penalty when Ian Evatt was adjudged to have brought him down in the box and subsequently dismissed.

Arshavin drove the spot kick into the bottom right corner in the 32nd.

“We were doing OK before the referee deemed Ian Evatt’s challenge a sending off,” Blackpool manager Ian Holloway said. “It absolutely ruined game as spectacle.”

But not for Arsenal fans, with goal No. 3 following in the 39th when Walcott dispatched the ball into the far corner after turning Dekel Keinan on the penalty spot.

Four minutes into the second half, Abou Diaby volleyed in the fourth after latching onto Bacary Sagna’s cross.

Diaby then slotted the ball through to Walcott in the 58th and the England winger, who was left out of the World Cup squad, fought off three players before curling the ball into the net to complete his hat trick.

Blackpool’s misery was completed in the 83rd when Chamakh headed in substitute Robin van Persie’s cross.

It was a less convincing win from Tottenham, which escaped with a victory from Stoke despite a late controversy when Jon Walters thought his header had crossed the line to earn a 2-2 draw but referee Chris Foy disagreed.

Bale had put Spurs ahead in the 19th after Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen parried his initial shot. Peter Crouch headed the rebound, but it wasn’t fully cleared by Ryan Shawcross and the ball hit Bale before finding the net.

Poor Spurs defending allowed Stoke to level in the 25th, with Ricardo Fuller clipping a shot beyond Heurelho Gomes after center back Younes Kaboul had directed Matthew Etherington’s corner into the penalty area.

Bale restored the visitors’ lead five minutes later after meeting Aaron Lennon’s cross with an angled volley.