Three goals in five first-half minutes from Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Michael Ballack set 10-man Chelsea on their way to a thumping 4-0 victory over West Ham at Upton Park that keeps them firmly in the hunt for the Premier League title.

Lampard opened the scoring from the spot after a quarter of an hour, before Joe Cole and Ballack extended the visitors' lead with well-taken strikes.

Lampard was then harshly sent off after an altercation with Luis Boa Morte with 10 minutes of the first half remaining.

The home side put Chelsea under pressure in the opening stages of the second period, but the visitors withstood their attacks and sealed an emphatic victory midway through the half when Ashley Cole tucked home from close range.

Blues manager Avram Grant made six changes to the side that lost the Carling Cup final to Tottenham last weekend, and his side started strongly.

Chelsea had the ball in the home side's net with only a minute gone when Nicolas Anelka tapped home after Robert Green could only parry John Terry's header from Lampard's free-kick, but the flag went up despite the fact Anelka was being played onside by George McCartney.

But 15 minutes later they did go ahead when Anton Ferdinand's trip on Salomon Kalou allowed Lampard to drive the ball into the bottom-left corner from the penalty spot.

Joe Cole extended the lead three minutes later with a crisply struck left-footed effort that flew into the bottom-right corner, and Ballack made it 3-0 moments later when he clinically dispatched Lampard's pass from the left with a beautifully taken half-volley.

Lampard was at the heart of all of Chelsea's best football, but shortly after the half hour he was shown a straight red card for tangling with Boa Morte on the edge of the Chelsea area.

The face-off was provoked by a rather untidy challenge by the England man, but his guilt encompassed merely a fairly tame push to his opponent's shoulder and he understandably wore an aggrieved look as he left the field.

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley introduced Dean Ashton at half-time, and the Hammers put the visitors under sustained pressure in the first 15 minutes of the second half, with Terry having to produce a tremendous goal-line clearance to deny Carlton Cole after he had nicked the ball past Petr Cech.

But the Blues held firm, and with half an hour remaining they made doubly sure of the three points when Ashley Cole tucked the ball home from a tight angle after Green had pushed Joe Cole's shot away.

Substitute Michael Essien came close to extending the lead with ten minutes remaining, but his left-footed effort from the edge of the box was deflected narrowly wide of Green's left-hand post.

The result moves Chelsea to within seven points of leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.

Tom Williams / Eurosport