Chelsea have displayed no sign of missing injured strikers Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, thrashing Norwich City 7-0 in a performance that underscored how coach Thomas Tuchel is getting the very best from his table-topping squad.
Mason Mount took full advantage of his first Premier League start in more than a month by racking up a hat-trick.
Wing backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell, both of whom have been in and out of the side this season, scored a goal each, and Callum Hudson-Odoi repaid Tuchel for recalling him by getting on the scoresheet too.
The emphatic nature of Chelsea's win, albeit against the Premier League's bottom club, came after they lost Lukaku and Werner to injury in the space of 20 minutes in a midweek Champions League win over Malmo.
Some observers said the double injury blow showed Chelsea had been unwise to sell strikers Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud over the summer, and let Michy Batshuayi leave on loan.
Tuchel had demanded before the Norwich game that his players "step up" in the absence of Lukaku and Werner, and he was lavish in his praise after the final whistle.
"I am very happy with the performance and very happy with the intensity and very happy with the effort that we put into this game," Tuchel says.
"There is no holding back. We play 'all in' and that is what I like a lot."
The win also threw down the gauntlet to the Londoners' rivals in the title race.
Second-placed Liverpool, who were a point behind the Blues going into the weekend, will lose more ground, if they fail to beat northern rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Chelsea's next league games are against Newcastle United and Burnley, both of whom are currently stuck in the relegation area, along with Norwich, potentially giving the Blues a chance to stretch their lead at the top of the table.
As well as their ruthless attacking performance, they kept another of the clean sheets that have become a signature of Tuchel's Chelsea, since he replaced Frank Lampard as coach in January.
Watford run riot over Everton
Watford striker Joshua King has grabbed a hat-trick on his return to former club Everton in a stunning 5-2 Premier League victory, as the visitors claimed their first win under new manager Claudio Ranieri.
Watford's maiden win at Goodison Park, which moved them up to 14th on 10 points, was in stark contrast to Ranieri's first game in charge, when they were spanked 5-0 at home to Liverpool last week. Everton dropped to eighth on 14 points.
King, who spent the second half of last season at Everton and left the club when his contract was not renewed, was in fine form, and the Norwegian had no qualms about celebrating his goals and going into the book for taking his shirt off.
"For a striker, it's confidence," says King, who opened his account for the season. "I had a horrible season last season.
"Any striker, when you start scoring, gets confidence. We needed the win today.
"This is a great group with togetherness... the manager has just come in, his second game in and that was a good performance by the team."
Everton were quick out of the blocks, scoring inside three minutes, when Demarai Gray sprinted down the left, danced past a challenge and crossed the ball into the six-yard box, where Tom Davies stuck his foot out for his first goal of the season.
The lead lasted only 10 minutes, before Everton failed to clear the initial delivery and King stole in at the back post on a set-piece to fire the ball into the roof of the net, with the linesman's offside call being overruled by video review.
Everton struggled to make inroads after the early goal and needed the introduction of Richarlison in the second half for them to go ahead, as the Brazilian got on the end of Michael Keane's whipped cross to head home against his former club.
But Watford silenced the Goodison Park crowd with two goals in two minutes, when Juraj Kucka first levelled from another set-piece with a header, before King scored his second from a counterattack, after Everton committed too many players forward.
King completed his hat-trick, when Everton's defence failed to clear a cross into the box, turning Keane and firing past Pickford, before Emmanuel Dennis got a fifth in stoppage time.
"Watford made it difficult for us, but as a group, we have to take accountability, it's not acceptable," Gray says.
"The manager [Rafa Benitez] has made it clear it's not good enough. We have to concentrate and do things properly.
"It hurts, but we have to move forward."
Meanwhile, a late Callum Wilson strike earned Newcastle a 1-1 draw at at Crystal Palace, Leeds and Wolves shared the points with the same score in Yorkshire, while Southampton and Burnley drew 2-2.
Reuters
