Chelsea appears to be back to their lethal best after they demolished Athletico Madrid 4-0 in the Champions League last night. Two goals from Solomon Kalou, one from Frank Lampard and one own goal all led to another three points as Chelsea strive to win the competition that has eluded them since Roman Abramovich’s arrival.

Chelsea never looked threatened against a very talented attacking side. There are a number of players in the Madrid team that could have created big problems but John Terry seemed to be in perfect form and snuffed out all signs of danger instantly.

Manager, Carlo Ancelotti, said: “We did better at the set plays. It was very important to keep our concentration at the set plays — and we scored twice from them as well.”

“Maybe the first half was more difficult than the second, but after our first goal we had a good match. We had good attacking, a good transition. Nine points is good. I think we are in control of the group now, but our aim is still to go for first place.”

“I am happy for him [Lampard]. He is important because he works 90 minutes on the pitch for the team. He is a very generous, unselfish player. And if he scores a goal, it is better.”

The problem that seems to have plagued Chelsea in the last one or two seasons is their inconsistency. This had provided gaps and windows of opportunity for rivals to pounce on and is the reason they have fell short of Manchester United in the last two campaigns.

Chelsea are a big club that need to be winning trophies on a regular basis. If they carry on playing in this efficient manner then they should be in with a good shout on all fronts by the end of the season.

The problem is that better teams are going to exploit their weaknesses in a way that Madrid could not. Set plays are just a single part of the game but at times last night they gave too much space and time that will be used a lot better by teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Ancelotti will be grateful for the points but he knows better than anyone that there is always work to do and he will not be happy until his team has won 4-0 in every game they have played over the course of a month.

Chelsea boss, Carlo Ancelotti, has warned his side not to underestimate Athletico Madrid when the Spanish side play at Stamford Bridge this evening. Ancelotti wants a marked improvement on some inconsistent recent Chelsea displays and says that if his side are going to win the Champions League they will need to grind out wins from matches like this.

Chelsea should be able to name a very strong side and Ancelotti does not have many headaches to deal with. He will be happy at the fact that his team are still competing and not out of any thing even though they have not been playing as well as they could do.

He said: “Atletico didn’t start well but they have very good qualities. They have Aguero and Forlan, they are dangerous strikers and we have to pay attention to this. Aguero has fantastic quality and he can win matches. They are a good team.”

“We have a possibility to move eight points ahead of Atletico and that is very good because we want to arrive in first place in the group. We have a great opportunity to do this. To get first place in the group we need 12 or 13 points so it is important to win on Wednesday.”

Chelsea will want to finish first because if they do it will mean that they will get an easier game in the first knock out stage of the Champions League. However, every match seems to be a tough one in the modern day and Athletico will still be entertaining their own ideas of reaching the later stages.

Chelsea should be able to welcome back Germany’s captain, Michael Ballack, but right back, Jose Bosingwa, will miss the match with a knee problem. Otherwise the Chelsea gauntlet should be at full strength and it will be full steam ahead as they look to carry on their Champions League quest.

Chelsea will probably still feel a little bit of heart break from the final defeat they suffered two years ago at the hands of Manchester United. This should be enough inspiration to spur them on this season and they will go out of their way to make sure that there are no repeats of any last minute goals, like the one that knocked them out at the semi-final stage last year.

Chelsea are capable of going all the way but they need to work very hard at keeping a level of consistency that will allow them to compete with the better sides in the competition.

Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has let rip on his team after an unconvincing win over Apoel last night. Chelsea got their noses in front early but failed to increase their 1-0 advantage, regardless of the fact that they had a number of good chances.

Ancelotti said: “I wanted Chelsea to play better and to take more control, to play with courage. But I think that at this stage of the season it’s normal. We have to change. They ran a lot, but we have to play better.”

“It wasn’t a good performance. We started with good control, scored a goal, and we had opportunities to do quick counter-attacks after that, but we didn’t do that.”

“In the second half it was different. We tried to control the game with possession, but we made a lot of mistakes. Nicosia played very well in the second half and deserved to draw the game.”

Captain, John Terry, speaking ahead of the next Premier League match with Liverpool, added: “We have to be better. They are a very good side who had a tough result yesterday [a 2-0 defeat away to Fiorentina]. They will be up for it and they are a big club so we will have to respond again when we play them.”

“Ideally you want to play well and win. We haven’t been at our best tonight, but there were times when we passed it well and we came away with three points, so you can’t ask for more.”

The weak performance is being used by Chelsea critics as evidence over why they will never be able to win the Champions League under the current management and structure.

They need to be stamping their authority all over games and teams such as this because when they come up against a better side they will not be allowed to get away with it.

The frustrations last night were clear as Terry himself got involved with a player right at the end of the game but the point is that a win is a win. Chelsea can take another three points away with them and they should be satisified that they are looking good for qualification.

There is time and space to get some hard work done ahead of tougher and more important games but for now the focus should switch to beating Liverpool this coming weekend in the Premier League, where they have just seen their lead slip.