Tomorrow Chelsea must resume their FA cup battles at Tottenham. At least they can be relieved that this victory over an outclassed Sheffield United hardly exerted them to the full. Moreover, they seemed to come through the game, most significantly of all, with no reported injuries.

They did not even have to deploy Didier Drogba into the attack until the 65th minute, and by that time they had their three goals in the bag.

Sheffield United gave themselves the worst possible start, committed footballing suicide with their dreadful marking for the first Chelsea goal, scored after just four minutes, and with consiberable agility, by Andriy Shevchenko.

Ricardo Carvalho, Chelsea’s Portuguese international centre-back, set off on a long, adventurous, unchallenged run from the right. This he eventually concluded with a raking cross-field pass that found Shevchenko, who coolly controlled the ball without hindrance, then drove it home with a powerfully struck left-foot shot.

One really would have thought that when a team like Sheffield United have salvation alone in their sights, the defence gets down to the basics of decent marking rather better than this woeful display.

On 17 minutes Chelsea doubled their advantage. This time United’s marking was not as inept as on the first goal, but the defence still seemed embarrassingly porous.

When Shaun Wright-Phillips raced in to cross from the right, Shevchenko cleverly flicked the ball leftwards across goal, where Salomon Kalou scored without difficulty.

To give United their due, they struck back almost immediately when Colin Kazim-Richards raced dashingly through the middle, finally and fiercely shooting from distance. Chelsea’s keeper Petr Cech had no easy job in pushing the ball to his right and high to safety. Subsequently, receiving from Keith Gillespie, United loner striker Rob Hulse tested Cech with a shot the keeper kept out with his feet, being injured in the process. He needed treatment, but an injury to Hulse proved a bigger blow to the Blades, as he was obliged to leave the field and was replaced by Christian Nade.

At the interval Chelsea withdrew Frank Lampard and sent on in his place Michael Ballack. Thirteen minutes later the German had scored.

Arjen Robben, in splendidly ebullient form, swung in a free kick from the left. Ballack rose to it and deflected it past Paddy Kenny with his head.

On 65 minutes Chelsea brought on a couple more substitutes in the shape of Drogba and Paulo Ferreira. This enabled them to withdraw Shevchenko, who had given a refreshing and reassuring performance in tune with his very recent declaration that he now wants to stay at Stam-ford Bridge. He moved effortlessly, swiftly and intelligently across the face of the attack, and was usually there where it mattered if there were chances to be taken.

Indeed, it was hard to understand why Chelsea should so often have been written off, however successful, as no more than a highly functional team. Yesterday, so much of their football was pleasing to the eye, not only effective but inventive, fluent and imaginative.

Whether he was operating on the left or the right, Robben, with his mesmerising footwork, was as entertaining as he was threatening. During the game, he frequently interchanged positions with Wright-Phillips to the profit of both.

It must have been very reassuring both for his club and his country to see John Terry striding through the game with much authority and acumen, betraying no sign of a reaction to the dreadful injury he suffered playing for Chelsea in the recent Carling Cup final in Cardiff.

Sheffield United at least never gave up the ghost against opposition so utterly in complete control. You had to have sympathy with them for the early loss of Hulse, who for weeks recently has been ploughing such a lonely furrow with no small effect. He is a natural finisher, not least with his head. Moving into the middle, Kazim-Richards did his best with scant support, but in such difficult circumstances there is clearly no happy substitute for Hulse.

Star man: Arjen Robben (Chelsea)

Player Ratings:Chelsea: Cech 7, Boulahrouz 6, Carvalho 7, Terry 7, Cole 6 (Ferreira 65min), Wright-Phillips 6, Lampard 6 (Ballack ht, 6), Makelele 6, Robben 7, Shevchenko 7 (Drogba 65min), Kalou 6

Sheff Utd: Kenny 6, Geary 6, Morgan 6, Davis 6, Armstrong 6, Gillespie 6, Montgomery 6, Quinn 6 (Tonge 67min), Jagielka 6, Kazim-Richards 7, Hulse 6 (Nade 27min, 6)

Scorers: Chelsea: Shevchenko 4, Kalou 17, Ballack 58

Referee: C Foy

Attendance: 41,897