It was one of those stereotypical “grim oop north” days, met with one of those stereotypically gutsy, efficient Chelsea performances. Rain made the pitch sodden and random, a biting wind made the location fiendishly inhospitable, yet Chelsea dug in, got in front and breezed through the rest of the game as if dozing in a deckchair on a summer day.

They are hugely impressive on occasions such as this, when weaker teams might shirk or disappear. Chelsea were so resilient, so determined that they could afford to play much of the second half in the manner of a training exercise. Knowing how fiercely Chelsea’s players like to play in training, too, maybe this would be a notch down. Blackburn Rovers never looked likely to beat the redoubtable Petr Cech.

His performance seemed to sum up Chelsea’s excellence: calm, perfect in his handling, quick to react, equal to the task in the rare moments when he was tested. Paul Robinson, at the opposite end, was equally impressive, but his form was more readily noticeable. It had to be: by the end of the first half, Chelsea might have been five goals clear were it not for him.

For some reason, the home supporters appeared to believe that Chris Foy, the referee, had some nefarious role to play in this defeat, but aside from denying Chelsea a certain penalty in the fifth minute, which, if given, might have resulted in the dismissal of Robinson, it is hard to remember a single significant call he made. Chelsea won because they are at an entirely different level to Blackburn, who frittered possession, missed Roque Santa Cruz, the forward, and have not won a league game since September.

The conditions should have been, as the cliché goes, a great leveller, but it is going to take a lot more than a few puddles to bring Chelsea down to Blackburn’s level. Even an utterly insipid performance from the play-making Deco did not influence the flow of the game. When it came to muscle, Chelsea had more of that, too. The big men in the heart of midfield, John Obi Mikel in particular, and Frank Lampard, dominated.

The weather was nearly the talking point. Foy persevered through the first half only after hearing that the deluge would not last beyond half-time. By the time it stopped, the ball was not travelling well, particularly in midfield. Had the game not been televised perhaps it would have been abandoned, as was requested by Paul Ince, the Blackburn manager (his team were a goal down at the time).

Luiz Felipe Scolari, who celebrated his 60th birthday with champagne and cake at the team hotel on Saturday night, did not dissuade his players from adopting their usual style, although Ray Wilkins, the Chelsea manager’s assistant, admitted that the conditions meant Chelsea had to play longer passes at times. Either way, and with either system, they had the measure of Blackburn and the comments from Ince, insisting that his players had the better of the second half, seemed to stem more from his annoyance at Wilkins’s words before the game than realistic analysis. If Blackburn saw more of the ball after half-time it was because Chelsea were so comfortable that they took their foot off the gas.

It could have been even easier had Robinson, who criminally was not given Blackburn’s man-of-the-match prize, been adjudged to have clipped the feet of Nicolas Anelka when the Chelsea striker took the ball round him after five minutes. Trying to keep his balance, Anelka took two steps and stumbled, but Foy ruled that he had merely lost his footing in the conditions. Replays suggested otherwise.

Robinson saved from Anelka in the thirteenth minute, Mikel in the fifteenth, Lampard in the 22nd and Anelka again in the 32nd. Finally beaten five minutes before half-time, it took a stroke of luck, but nobody can argue that Chelsea did not deserve the lead. Credit to José Bosingwa, the Chelsea right back, for having the wit to try a shot from range in the conditions, but commiserations to Robinson, who was left helpless when what would have been a harmless strike deflected in off Anelka’s thigh.

Chelsea’s second, after 67 minutes, was far superior. A pass by Florent Malouda was blocked before Lampard won a thunderous tackle, sending the ball to Anelka, who slipped it over Robinson with ease. He could have had a second consecutive hat-trick in the Premier League with two minutes remaining, but was kept out by Robinson, whose confidence appears to have been restored by the end of his working relationship with Juande Ramos, much like his former teammates at Tottenham Hotspur.

Ince’s version of events is overstated, but his side did force two excellent saves from Cech: from Carlos Villaneuva in the 23rd minute and Jason Roberts eight minutes after half-time. With Chelsea operating well within capacity, however, had either gone in it is likely that order would have been restored at the other end. It takes a lot more than a bit of rain and a blast of wind from the north to trouble Chelsea. It takes a lot more than Blackburn Rovers, too.

Blackburn Rovers (4-2-3-1): P Robinson 9 - D Simpson 5, Z Khizanishvili 5, R Nelsen 5, M Olsson 5 - V Grella 5, S Warnock 6 - C Villanueva 5, K Andrews 5, M G Pedersen 6 - J Roberts 5. Substitutes: A Mokoena 5 (for Grella, 44min), M Derbyshire 5 (for Andrews, 46), R Fowler (for Roberts, 76). Not used: J Brown, C Samba, Tugay Kerimoglu, K Treacy. Next: Sunderland (h).

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): P Cech 9 - J Bosingwa 8, Alex 7, J Terry 7, W Bridge 7 - J O Mikel 7 - S Kalou 6, Deco 5, F Lampard 7, F Malouda 7 - N Anelka 7. Substitutes: J Belletti (for Kalou, 61min 6), P Ferreira (for Deco, 90). Not used: C Cudicini, B Ivanovic, F Di Santo, S Sinclair, Mineiro. Next: West Bromwich Albion (a).