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Chelsea maintained their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with an entirely comfortable 5-0 win over woeful Middlesbrough at the Riverside.

Chelsea made light of their pre-match injury concerns as Salomon Kalou, twice, Juliano Belletti, Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda all netted to maintain the Blues' position at the top of the table.

Talk prior to kick-off had centred on Chelsea's lengthy injury list after Luiz Felipe Scolari had been deprived of several big names, including Michael Essien, Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba, both Joe and Ashley Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and Petr Cech.

But even without such a wealth of talent available, Chelsea were still head and shoulders above Boro, who were so poor their fans felt it necessary to boo them off at half-time - at just 1-0 down - before making their feeling known with far more gusto four goals later at full-time.

Despite his injury worries, Scolari was handed a boost prior to kick-off with news that captain John Terry was fit enough to play, despite having missed England's World Cup qualifier in Minsk midweek.

And the visitors started by far the more comfortable of the two sides, playing the ball around confidently, creating a number of goalscoring chances and allowing Boro very little possession of their own - effectively shutting them out of the game completely.

The early goal clearly helped Chelsea, but even before Kalou swooped - with a close range strike after Belletti's deflected shot had fallen into his path - they were already firmly in control of the game.

The only accusation that could have been levelled at the visitors during the opening period was that they failed to extend their lead, despite having dominated in every area.

Kalou could have grabbed a second soon after the deadlock was broken, but the Ivorian's rather tame effort was easily saved by Ross Turnbull on 20 minutes.

Four minutes later and it was Frank Lampard's turn to spurn a good chance - probably the best of the opening 45 minutes - the England midfielder somehow failing to hit the target from close range after the ball was crossed into him.

Boro came out for the second half with the best of intentions - Stuart Downing fired over the bar soon after the restart - but home fans' hopes of getting something from the game were dashed on 51 minutes when Belletti struck Chelsea's second.

It was a wonderful strike from the Brazilian, a rocket that arrowed into the top corner from fully 30 yards, leaving Turnbull absolutely no chance of stopping it.

Moments earlier, Malouda had squandered another Chelsea chance after having broken free of the Boro defence following a terrible error of judgement by Jonathan Grounds, but the Frenchman was soon to have a decisive bearing on the third goal of the day.

He got to the by-line before laying the ball back to Kalou whose first-time goalbound shot was deflected past Turnbull by David Wheater's chest.

Three-nil up and the points secure, Chelsea really began to enjoy themselves as they started to carve open the Boro defence seemingly at will.

Belletti and Lampard both had efforts on goal before the England midfielder finally got his name on the scoresheet - as is his custom - with a glancing header from Kalou's clipped ball through just after the hour mark.

Four minutes later and Malouda completed the scoring, tapping in from close range after a Turnbull error had diverted Anelka's crisp shot onto the post and into his path.

Seven players out injured yet still five goals scored and none conceded away from home. It was impressive stuff from Chelsea who, despite their injury concerns, could still welcome back Deco from injury as a late substitute.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport