Chelsea leapfrogged Manchester United to go third in the league after first half goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen and Gianfranco Zola earnt Chelsea a 3-0 victory over Birmingham.

Claudio Ranieri's side leapt up a place after United lost 3-1 in the Manchester derby earlier in the day and the Blues will now look to turn up the heat on Arsenal and Liverpool after this convincing win.

Gudjohnsen and Zola were the Chelsea heroes as the home side repeatedly pulled apart Birmingham who looked out of their depth.

Chelsea began the game brightly and were soon passing the ball around in the fluent fashion that has become their hallmark.

Retaining possession has never been a problem for Chelsea, however, it is their finishing which has let them down of  late as Gudjohnsen and the injured Hasselbaink had struggled before this game to find the prolific goalscoring form of last season.

A Birmingham team with an injury hit defence , however, offered the home forwards a perfect chance to fill their boots, and this looked to be the case when Gudjohnsen opened the scoring after just three minutes.

The Icelandic striker was sent clear by a precise ball from Jody Morris and he slid his shot into the far corner.

This early blow seemed to shock Birmingham who came close to equalising twice within the opening quarter of an hour.

Firstly Paul Devlin burst through a static home defence before pulling his shot past the post. Then Stern John let fly with a stinging shot from twenty five yards which flew just over the bar.

Graeme Le Saux was getting forward at every opportunity and the England international found himself in space on the edge of the area but could only send his shot straight at Nico Vaesen.

Vaesen was left grasping thin air shortly afterwards when Gudjohnsen struck a second which was almost a carbon copy of his opener.

The visitors did not appear to have learnt from their earlier lapse as the blonde haired hitman found space again in the area and fired a drive just inside the far post.

Gianfranco Zola almost added a third minutes later with a rasping drive that was just off target.

The Italian did not wait long to make amends as he ended the game as a contest just before half time.

Zola looked to be going nowhere when he ran straight into a Birmingham defender, but the ball broke kindly for him and he rammed the ball into the net via the far post.

After the break Stern John could have pulled a goal back for his side, however, his weak header never looked like troubling Carlo Cudicini.

Seconds later Gudjohnsen should have secured his hat-trick. Having burst through the pedestrian visitors defence he looked odds on to score only to flick his shot wide of the net from eight yards out.

By this point Chelsea were coasting and Gallas had a goal ruled out for offside before Petit rammed a in shot that rattled the crossbar.

As the game neared its conclusion Ranieri sent on Carlton Cole who had struck twice to send Gillingham spinning out of the Worthington Cup in midweek. The lanky striker perhaps should have added to his tally but he mistimed a header from six yards out.

In the dying minutes Nico Vaesen prevented a fourth with a fine stop from Celestine Babayaro.