Drogba's treble overwhelms Watford

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LONDON, England -- Striker Didier Drogba scored a hat-trick as Chelsea trounced Watford 4-0 to put the pressure on Premier League leaders Manchester United on Saturday.

The Ivory Coast forward killed the game with two first-half goals as the champions moved onto 28 points.

But Alex Ferguson's men restored their three-point advantage by winning 1-0 at Blackburn in the late match, Louis Saha scoring the winner..

Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko made it 3-0 in the 52nd minute and Drogba completed his hat-trick in the 69th, as Chelsea shrugged off last weekend's defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.

Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa moved up to third place after they beat Everton 1-0 away with a goal from veteran striker Chris Sutton.

Even worse for Everton, Tim Cahill suffered a potentially serious knee injury.

Cahill, a star performer for Australia during the World Cup, had already been forced to undergo lengthy treatment after landing awkwardly in the Villa penalty area following an aerial challenge with Liam Ridgewell.

The former Millwall midfielder was able to recover from that blow, but he immediately looked in pain after his sickening 20th minute collision with Lee Carsley.

Both players had gone for the same ball 30 yards from the Everton goal, but Republic of Ireland international Carsley missed the ball and caught Cahill on the outside of the right knee.

Television replays showed Cahill's knee appear to bend inwards and he was quickly surrounded by concerned team-mates before being stretchered off with a brace supporting his injured knee.

Chelsea took nearly half an hour to go ahead against Watford, who had earned their first league win of the season by beating Middlesbrough last weekend.

The promoted club were caught out in the 27th minute when Geremi centered from the right. Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko missed the ball but Drogba made no mistake.

Drogba struck his second after a one-two with Shevchenko, who added the third in the 52nd minute off a Drogba pass.

Drogba completed his second hat-trick of the season, after hitting three against Levski Sofia in the Champions League in September, with a close-range finish from another Geremi cross.

His 14th strike of the season in all competitions also made him the Premier League's top scorer with eight goals.

Chelsea also reached a milestone by becoming only the second club to clock up 50 consecutive unbeaten home league games in the top flight.

The record was set by Liverpool, at 63 games, from 1978-81. Chelsea's last home league defeat was by Arsenal in February 2004.

"It was a good, solid performance," Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho told Sky Sports.

"Watford tried to come forward and we had some difficult moments at the back...but at the same time we had the ball, we used it, we created chances and we scored goals."

With his side also beating Villa 4-0 in midweek in the League Cup, Mourinho said: "Our crowd have gone home with eight goals and two victories. I think everybody is happy with the situation."

No ill-effects

Manchester United showed no ill-effects from their shock League Cup exit to second division Southend in midweek and deserved their win at Blackburn.

They dominated the first half, in which England striker Wayne Rooney spurned two gilt-edged chances from close range, and snuffed out a brief Rovers revival after the restart.

Rooney was denied by a point-blank save from American keeper Brad Friedel on 61 minutes but United were in front three minutes later.

Defender John O'Shea, on for injured Gary Neville at the start of the second half, swung a high ball over from the right, Ryan Giggs somehow pulled it back from the dead-ball line and Saha acrobatically smacked the ball past Friedel.

United manager Alex Ferguson said he expected England defender Neville to miss next week's international friendly against the Netherlands after suffering a calf injury.

"He's been having bother with his calf for quite a few weeks now," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"We've been trying to get him into training sessions for complete weeks to try and eliminate a recurrence of it.

"But it's happened again today, unfortunately, so I don't think he will be playing for England on Wednesday."

Bolton lost more ground when they allowed a two-goal lead to slip at Sheffield United.

El Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies put the visitors 2-0 up by the 59th minute but Rob Hulse and Colin Kazim-Richards replied in a four-minute burst.

Portsmouth also had to settle for a point at home to Fulham, needing a 74th minute equalizer from Andy Cole to wipe out Zat Knight's 57th minute strike.

West Ham could not reproduce the euphoria of last Sunday's defeat of Arsenal, slumping 1-0 at Middlesbrough, where Massimo Maccarone provided the 74th minute winner.

Matthew Jackson scored the decider as Wigan beat Charlton 3-2, while Manchester City and Newcastle were goalless.

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