Chelsea 4-0 Spurs

by Amar Azam

at Stamford Bridge

Jose Mourinho's Chelsea opened up a seven-point margin over their nearest rivals with this trouncing of Tottenham but he warned that the real threat comes from Manchester City.

City lie nine points off the pace in fourth spot behind Liverpool and Arsenal - but with three more games to play.

"I would prefer to be in City's position," said Mourinho. "They have three matches in hand. If they win them all, they are top.

"We don't have control of our destiny. If we win all our matches then maybe we are not champions. If City win their games, they are champions."

His view was echoed by skipper John Terry, who called City the "strongest side."

There is little between Chelsea and Manuel Pellegrini's side, both of whom still have tricky matches remaining.

Chelsea host Arsenal on March 22 and travel to Liverpool next month - both outside shots for the title themselves.

City play away at Arsenal and Manchester United this month and face Liverpool at Anfield in April.

Spurs' league campaign looks to be stalling. Tim Sherwood was scathing about his players, accusing them of lacking "guts and character."

It was difficult to disagree with the Spurs boss, who has seen his side lose six of their 17 matches since he took over in December.

They held their own during a goalless first half but the floodgates opened on 56 minutes after a period of dominance from the home side.

Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen slipped on the ball, inadvertently playing in Samuel Eto'o to fire past Hugo Lloris.

The game changed a few minutes later when Younes Kaboul was sent off for bringing down Eto'o. Eden Hazard, in fine form, put away the spot kick to leave Chelsea cruising.

Substitute Demba Ba scored twice late on to complete a comprehensive win.