Chelseas foreign legion continued their march towards a European campaign with a revenge win over basement boys Bradford.

It was the Bantams who sealed the end of Gianluca Vialli with a 2-0 win at Valley Parade back in August, but Claudio Ranieris 13th game in charge at Stamford Bridge proved a little luckier for the Blues.

Gustav Poyet nudged them ahead, Eidhur Gudjohnsen grabbed another in the continued absence of the banned Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, but the star of the show was Sam dalla Bona.

The 19-year-old Italian who was signed by Vialli - added a fine strike in between to leave the Bantams six points adrift at the foot of the table. Chelsea meanwhile, have the most home goals in the Premiership and despite suffering from a dose of travel sickness are now ninth in the scrap for UEFA Cup places.

It was Dalla Bona who started the move that finally shattered 22 minutes of monotony as he fed Gudjohnsen who broke free of the offside trap only to have his effort on goal - and the follow-up - denied by Gary Walsh.

But thankfully for the Icelandic striker the second parry fell into the path of the on-rushing Poyet, who sent Stamford Bridge wild by crashing the loose ball high into the net for the opener.

The goal settled Chelsea and served to pile more pressure on the Bradford defence, who escaped three times before the break when Gianfranco Zolas cross-cum-shot whistled past the far post, Mario Melchiot suffered a similar fate and dalla Bona drilled over.

And the misses could have proved costly had Dean Windass 51st-minute effort not been disallowed for offside. Quick to heed the warning, Chelsea immediately added an overdue second.

Dalla Bona has steadily made his mark following a stuttering start to the campaign and after Gudjohnsen crashed a thundering effort against the angle of post and bar, he got the goal his midfield craft merited.

On 68 minutes he picked up possession in the centre circle and started a direct run at the Bradford defence which ended with a calm, neat, finish beneath the advancing Walsh.

Bradford battled bravely away from then on, but with another three points already beyond them, it came as no great surprise when they succumbed to a third in the last minute.

Chelsea again built up the pressure in the opposing half and when the ball finally fell to at Gudjohnsen's feet, he fairly lashed it past Walsh to prove yet again that no Hasselbaink does not mean no goals especially at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea: de Goey, Leboeuf (Morris 67), Desailly, Terry, Melchiot (Bogarde 83), Wise, Harley, Dalla Bona, Poyet (Jokanovic 78), Zola, Gudjohnsen.
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Aleksidze.
Goals: Poyet 22, Dalla Bona 68, Gudjohnsen 90.
Bradford: Walsh, Petrescu (Beagrie 74), Atherton, Molenaar, O'Brien, Lawrence, Sharpe (Nolan 11), McKinlay, McCall, Carbone (Blake 74), Windass.
Subs Not Used: Myers, Davison.
Booked: McCall.

Att: 33,377
Ref: B Knight (Orpington).