The Guardian

John Terry says Premier League title is just the start for Chelsea

Chelsea thump Wigan 8-0 to secure title in style

We aim to dominate for years, says captain

Dominic Fifield at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea exorcised three seasons of frustration to claim the club's fourth league title in emphatic style with the captain, John Terry, insisting the championship must now inspire the Londoners to a period of sustained domestic dominance.

A blistering 8-0 victory, this club's biggest ever success in the top flight, swelled Chelsea's goals tally for the season to a staggering 140 in all competitions and 103 in the league alone. No side had achieved three figures in the division since Tottenham Hotspur in 1963, with Didier Drogba recovering from a first-half hissy fit at being denied the chance to take a penalty with a second-half hat-trick.

"Seeing them win it has been hard, but it's ours again today. It's been an up and down year, really tough, but we deserve it. Nothing could have made me more determined to win the trophy – I've been hurting inside for three years seeing United with it, and every one of us was sitting there feeling the same thing. It's their turn to sit and watch today."

Carlo Ancelotti had special praise for his captain, despite the off-the-field problems Terry has endured, and pinpointed the team's

2-1 win at Old Trafford in April as key to tipping the title race in their favour. "That improved our confidence and sent United down a little bit," said the Italian. "As for John, he had some difficult moments, but he kept those personal issues outside the training ground. He had a fantastic season.

"A lot of times, he was the most important player on the pitch and showed good character. He was not the only leader we had, and all my players showed fantastic character. After this first year, I now hope to stay here a long time and win a lot of titles for this club. I think Chelsea will have a great future because these players are not so old and we have a very good squad, for next year and the years after."

Chelsea arguably merited the trophy for their attacking prowess alone.

This was the fourth time this season they have scored seven or more in the league, and they have plundered 41 goals in nine league games at Stamford Bridge since the turn of the year. Wigan had actually been the tidier side for long periods in the first half here until, at 1-0, Gary Caldwell was dismissed for tripping Frank Lampard to earn a penalty.

The award prompted a disagreement between Drogba and Lampard over who would take the kick, with the Ivorian sulking his way through the remainder of the half before Ancelotti pulled him together at the interval. The manager joked that he must be a "magician" to have coaxed the performance that duly yielded a second-half hat-trick from the forward.

"I understood [Lampard's insistence] but, at the same time, was disappointed," said Drogba. "I wasn't happy, but now I know I was making a big mistake. Frank was right. I had to get over this frustration because I knew we'd have some chances in the second half.

We've been chasing the title for three years and have had some difficult seasons and been unlucky, but we've played some good football this season and, for a team that's supposed to be too old, we can be proud of what we have achieved today."

The achievement drew congratulations from rivals, with the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benítez, claiming "the best team, and the best manager" had won the title in a far from subtle barb at Sir Alex Ferguson. "It's the hardest league in the world and we applaud Chelsea because we know how hard it is," said the United manager. "But we will come back next year – that's what Manchester United do."

Roman Abramovich joined the champagne-soaked celebrations in the home dressing room post-match with Ashley Cole, who had been watched by the England coach, Fabio Capello, basking in a first league title since his controversial move from Arsenal four years ago.

"It's been a long time since I've won the league," said the full-back.

"It's my first title at Chelsea. People said I hadn't won a 'big one'.

Hopefully now everyone will get off my back and realise why I came here. We can make this a great year by going on to win the double."

Lampard said: "This is right up there, the way we've finished the season in such style. We deserved to come out on top. The first two titles [under José Mourinho] we won relatively easily. They were very special because they were the first ones, but with the difficulties we've had this year, that was very, very special."

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Carlo Ancelotti buries memories of José Mourinho as Chelsea ooze class Under their Italian manager Chelsea have learned how to win with style on and off the field

Richard Williams

There were no pouts, no look-at-me gestures, no hurling of medals into the crowds, no mystifying statements complaining, even in the hour of glory, that he had not been given enough personal credit for Chelsea's achievements. Carlo Ancelotti smiled, hugged, waved and behaved with perfect decorum. Then he asked for a glass of wine. Under him, Chelsea have not only learnt how to win again. They have learnt how to win with class.

A mysterious thing is class, but you could see the change articulated in a slightly less obvious manner a fortnight ago, at half-time during the demolition of Stoke City, when six members of the great 1970 FA Cup-winning side – Charlie Cooke, Alan Hudson, John Hollins, Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris and Tommy Baldwin – were paraded around the pitch to waves of affectionate applause.

It was visible again in another way a few minutes after yesterday's final whistle. When the victorious first team disappeared into the dressing room to prepare themselves for the presentation of the Premier League trophy, Chelsea's Under-18 squad took the stage, circling the pitch with the FA Youth Cup, which they captured in midweek, enabling the crowd to relish the sight of some of the players – perhaps Jeffrey Bruma, the Dutchman who brings the ball out of defence as if running on ball-bearings, possibly Josh McEachran, the 17-year-old shadow striker – who may illuminate their afternoons in years to come.

And so the first Italian manager to guide a team to the English championship has fulfilled virtually all the hopes invested in him by Abramovich last summer. The final blitz towards the title – including scorelines of 5-0 at Portsmouth, 7-1 against Aston Villa, 7-0 against Stoke City and now 8-0 against Wigan Athletic – was both emphatic and vastly entertaining, almost spectacular enough to bury the memory of the March night on which José Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge and left in triumph, with one hand on the European Cup.

Ancelotti observed this week that Stamford Bridge will never forget Mourinho, but Abramovich will send the present incumbent back to work next season confident that the club will have a good chance of emulating the Portuguese firestarter's back-to-back championships and of mounting a stronger campaign in Europe.

By applying earthy common sense and dry humour along with a vast store of football nous, the manager has succeeded in restoring a sense of calm and shared purpose to a wilful dressing room. Ancelotti and his assistant, Ray Wilkins, are football men through and through.

Chelsea's success this season will represent a particularly rich source of pleasure to the Englishman, a beloved Chelsea prodigy in the mid-1970s before setting off on his distinguished travels to Old Trafford, San Siro, Ibrox and elsewhere. Wilkins never managed to win a trophy in his time at Stamford Bridge but he has certainly made up for it now.

Although Chelsea were sent out yesterday primarily to do the job of locking up the title, a sense of celebration inevitably swept across the ground long before Martin Atkinson brought the proceedings to a halt. But it was not until the 68th minute, when Didier Drogba swept home a penalty for the second of his three goals, that Ancelotti acceded to the crowd's demands for a wave.

Devoid of airs, Carletto is nothing if not a man of the people. "Come on, Chelsea!" he bellowed, to an answering roar of approval. Now, having followed in the footsteps of Ted Drake and Mourinho, he has the opportunity at Wembley next Saturday to become the first Chelsea manager to complete the Double of league and FA Cup, an achievement that has managed to lose none of its lustre through repetition since Bill Nicholson's Tottenham became the first club of the modern era to achieve what had hitherto seemed a near-impossible feat.

Amid yesterday's scenes of joy, Ashley Cole and Nicolas Anelka achieved the distinction of becoming the only active players to win the English championship with different clubs while Didier Drogba won the Premier League's golden boot, his performance enlivened by the hilarious 31st-minute pantomime in which he attempted to wrest the ball away from Frank Lampard in order to take the afternoon's first penalty. Lampard reminded the Ivorian that the margin was still only 1-0 and told him he could take the next one. Midway through the second half he was as good as his word.

If this was far from Chelsea's biggest test of the season, particularly once Wigan had gone down to 10 men, John Terry produced a performance distinguished by several moments of technical elegance while Joe Cole was given half an hour in which to impress two stern Italian judges, and used the opportunity to fashion his side's seventh and eighth goals.

"Only wine," Ancelotti requested when offered a glass as he sat down for the post-match press conference. "No water. And easy questions, please. My level of wine is high." Times really have changed at Chelsea, and for the better.

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Chelsea and Carlo Ancelotti are worthy winners of Premier League title Despite a squad getting on in years the manager has created a free-scoring machine at Stamford Bridge that has been less accident-prone than its rivals

Kevin McCarra

Chelsea have won the title by a single point but their superiority is far beyond dispute. Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, the other members of the usual elite, lost every game they played against Carlo Ancelotti's team. The Premier League trophy, four years after they last lifted it, has been swept back to Stamford Bridge on a spate of free-scoring gusto, and there is still an FA Cup final to come.

The Italian has far to go before fans at Stamford Bridge put him on a par with José Mourinho, who last conveyed the title to Chelsea, but he has exercised a different sort of expertise. Ancelotti's alterations to the squad went little further than the addition of Yuri Zhirkov, who has started only 10 league games, although his presence was a mighty relief when Ashley Cole broke his ankle.

The true impact has been simple yet memorable. Chelsea have racked up

103 league goals, six more than the previous record total set by United in the 1999-2000 campaign. There is a paradox to the ebullience from a side that could be seen as a team of old sweats ill-suited to capering around excitedly. Adventure, however, has been the only option. The defence has nothing of the stringency associated with the Mourinho era and it was a handicap, too, that injury has sidelined the imposing midfielder Michael Essien since early December. Any effort to grind out wins would have been misguided.

Nowadays Chelsea are at their health-iest in attack and Didier Drogba has 29 goals in the league, his best return in half-a-dozen seasons at the club. Ancelotti has been highly effective in utilising his predators without unduly compromising the organisation of the whole line-up.

With the penalty against Wigan that took Frank Lampard's tally to 21 league goals, this has already been by far the most prolific campaign of his career. Nicolas Anelka, too, has been assimilated into the system. It may not please the Frenchman to be any sort of foil to Drogba but the slightly deeper and wider role means that he exercises an influence on the build-up and also finds the net quite often.

Goals had vanished from his displays after the end of January but the knack was rediscovered on 13 April when the team scraped a 1-0 home win over Bolton in the teeth of penalty appeals. Anelka's instinct returned with the first of the day against Wigan that relieved any tension among team-mates who had opened in a conservative manner, and he would hit another exuberantly.

That narrow victory against Bolton pointed to a contradiction about Chelsea. The figures demonstrate that they can be free spirits but the advance in the league has also needed to be dogged, since there were setbacks. After opening with half-a-dozen wins they became the first prestigious club to be beaten at Wigan in this campaign. While it is no scandal to fall at Manchester City, a further defeat by Roberto Mancini's team at Stamford Bridge, by a 4-2 margin, was more disturbing.

Of course, the title confirms that they have been less accident-prone than their rivals. Ancelotti has no blot on the record, for instance, to compare with United's failure at Burnley, which was one of only seven league wins at Turf Moor for the now relegated club. Chelsea's margin has been narrow but managers can take credit for maintaining such an edge.

To some extent Ancelotti has to cope expertly with a side in decline, even if Sir Alex Ferguson confronts a steeper challenge after being obliged to trust in outfield players in their mid-30s such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville. Chelsea's results are well short of the level achieved when Mourinho landed the title in consecutive seasons but there have been developments that probably came as a happy surprise to the current manager.

When Jose Bosingwa injured his knee badly in October, Branislav Ivanovic, hitherto considered a centre-half, went on to show outstanding drive and reliability at right-back. By the same tokenit was gratifying for Chelsea fans to witness Florent Malouda evolve into such a creative force during the long absence of Joe Cole.

The England international may be rueful about that since it eroded his negotiating position as he comes to the end of his contract. Chelsea's circumstances, however, are also delicate. Standards at the top of the table have dipped and few would pretend that the side are as formidable as they once were. A pair of victories for Mourinho's Internazionale in the Champions League eliminated Ancelotti's team and underlined their limitations.

When asked about the possibility of bidding for Liverpool's Fernando Torres the manager replied that he already has Drogba. That ignored the fact that the Ivorian, at 32, will not necessarily stay at his present level for much longer. Ancelotti knows there cannot be a splurge because Roman Abramovich made the rational decision some time ago that it was senseless to repeat the transfer sprees of yore. The manager instead highlights Gaël Kakuta and four other youngsters whose opportunity will come next season but none has yet begun a League game for Chelsea. Perhaps the quintet will constitute a revitalising force but, just to be on the safe side, supporters should make sure they relish this trophy to the full.