Chelsea cruised into the quarter finals of the Carling Cup with a 4-0 win over Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho fielded a strong side and headers either side of half-time from Frank Lampard and Andrei Shevchenko had the hosts in command.

Michael Essien added a third and Didier Drogba pounced in the area to finish the scoring five minutes from time.

After a slow start, The Blues began to let their presence known and Drogba forced a parried stop out of Thomas Sorensen after being put through by Lampard.

The pair linked up again soon after and were again denied by Sorensen as the Villa keeper smothered Drogba's redirect at the Ivory Coast international's feet.

Shevchenko cut in from the left but failed to make the required contact on the ball as his shot from the edge of the area rolled into Sorensen's arms.

The Ukrainian striker almost created the opener for Ballack with some excellent work around the Villa penalty area but the German midfielder blazed high over the crossbar.

Chelsea's backline, missing captain John Terry through suspension, was coping well with Juan Pablo Angel and Gabriel Agbonlahor as Villa continued to struggle to mount an attack of note.

However, they would soon have to up their game after falling behind to Lampard's opener on 32 minutes.

Ballack robbed Steven Davis in the right back position and sent in a perfect cross that the England midfielder glanced past Sorensen's outstretched hand.

Villa were dealt a double injury blow just before the break as captain Gareth Barry and Martin Laursen were both forced off through injury.

Martin O'Neill's men, though, began the second half the brighter and Angel missed a glorious chance to level things up when he failed to connect with a knock back across goal.

Shevchenko twice got in behind the Villa backline but was denied by Sorensen on both occasions.

The Denmark international firstly raced out to beat the striker to the ball before turning a shot from the corner of the area around his near post.

Carlo Cudicini was almost caught out by Davis' mis-cued cross from deep, while at the other end Drogba's acrobatic volley went across the face of goal.

Shevchenko netted Chelsea's second mid-way through the second half to put the score line out of Villa's reach.

Lampard turned provider for a goal that almost mirrored the Englishman's opener as his cross was headed past Sorensen by the former Milan man.

Essien headed a Lampard free kick over the crossbar and Joe Cole's turn and shot on the edge of the area went narrowly wide as Chelsea pushed for a third.

Solomon Kalou's excellent run lacked a finishing touch but Essien made no mistake when the chance fell to him ten yards out.

Essien was fed the ball by Geremi and after beating Olof Mellberg the Ghanaian midfielder poked past Sorensen.

Drogba put the icing on the cake with a late fourth as he pounced on a loose ball following Kalou's run and smashed past a helpless Sorensen

Teams

Chelsea Cudicini, Geremi, Boulahrouz, Carvalho, Bridge, Makelele (Diarra 85), Lampard, Essien, Ballack (J. Cole 75), Shevchenko (Kalou 75), Drogba
Subs Not Used: Hilario, Wright-Phillips
Booked: Boulahrouz
Goals: Lampard 32, Shevchenko 65, Essien 82, Drogba 84.\

Aston Villa Sorensen, Bouma, Mellberg, Laursen (Ridgewell 46), Hughes, Barry (Berger 45), McCann, Petrov, Davis (Baros 71), Agbonlahor, Angel
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Osbourne
Booked: McCann, Ridgewell
Attendance: 41,516

Referee: M Halsey