There was a Gallic flavour to Chelsea's west London derby win against Fulham, with goals coming from Nicolas Anelka, Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba.

It was no less than the Blues deserved, the better side for almost the entire 90 minutes as Anelka in particular ran the normally sturdy Fulham defence ragged.

Beginning as a centre-forward, the 30-year-old opened the scoring after 50 seconds before Fulham equalised almost immediately through Erik Nevland.

Soon afterwards he turned creator alongside Drogba, another constant thorn in the Fulham side as Malouda swept home, and Drogba completed the scoring in the second half after yet another Anelka pass.

It was the perfect warm-up for Barcelona on Wednesday, a game which Guus Hiddink will have had in mind with his selection and tactics, which will have caused surprise in Catalonia.

Michael Ballack was rested but the German aside, it was as strong a side as you could imagine just four days before the Champions League semi-final second leg, in an unusual 4-4-2 shape.

Ashley Cole returned at left-back with José Bosingwa shuffling across to his customary right-sided role, while in midfield Frank Lampard started on the right.

Anelka was paired in attack by Drogba, with perhaps Barcelona's central defensive troubles in mind - Rafael Marquez and Carles Puyol will both be absent at the Bridge on Wednesday.

That was enough about Europe, this game was about the Premier League and local pride, and Chelsea took less than a minute to gain the advantage in a frantic opening.

Malouda won possession and so followed a goal of beautiful simplicity. The winger exchanged passes with Anelka before feeding Drogba, whose lay-off was straight into his strike partner's path and Anelka made no mistake as he slotted beyond goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

Before there was time to check the stopwatch, the lead had been surrendered and regained.

Danny Murphy's lofted pass over the Chelsea defence caught the Blues flat-footed, but former Manchester United forward Erik Nevland was alert, and with time available to him, ran on and fired low into Petr Cech's right-hand corner. 1-1 after three minutes.

By the 10th minute Chelsea were ahead again as the same trio combined to devastating effect. Anelka slipped Drogba into the area and the Ivorian unselfishly squared to the far post where Malouda's run was timed perfectly to despatch the loose ball into the far corner.

Just when things looked like they were settling down, Nevland almost equalised, but his well struck volley of a looping ball was just too high to trouble Cech.

Drogba had a goal ruled out for offside as Chelsea began to exert dominance. Fulham did not look like a side built on solid foundations, a side that had conceded just 15 away goals all season before this afternoon.

The visitors' ball retention was poor, gifting possession to their superior opponents too frequently, and their hopes were dealt a further blow when Nevland was forced off through injury.

Chelsea were not capitalising particularly well though, the initial high tempo of the game had given way to a sluggish end of season feel, minds perhaps on Barcelona instead.

That allowed Fulham a couple of half-chances. First Zoltan Gera saw his shot deflected over by John Terry (who received a silver boot from chairman Bruce Buck before kick off the mark his 400th appearance), and then Paul Konchesky shot wide moments later.

Back in attack, Malouda could have grabbed a second, his shot blocked after Bosingwa had crossed deep. The Frenchman was showing some of his best form, as was Anelka, who supplied Lampard and Michael Essien with good opportunities, neither finding the target.

At half-time Hiddink made two changes, both with the intention of maintaining freshness in his squad. Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Ballack replaced Alex and Essien.

The formation had also altered, back to a 4-3-3 with Anelka playing wider on the right. Ballack was occupying the midfield holding role.

Despite the deeper position, Ballack still advanced, almost laying on one of the goals of the season before Lampard was tackled by John Pantsil. Drogba, Anelka and Mikel were also involved in the intricate build-up.

The goal that followed two minutes later was not far off that standard, as Anelka again showed his unselfish side, slotting a perfectly weighted ball through the heart of Fulham's defence for Drogba, whose touch and finish was as tidy as they come.

Now Drogba had a goal to join his two assists, and had Lampard's passing not been unusually off, he might have had a second.

Within a couple of minutes he had a whole lot of pain to contend with too, after a collision with Pantsil left him prostrate on the ground for some time. There was cause for concern as team-mates gathered round, but eventually he would return to his feet.

While he had been down, play had been going on around him, Malouda picking up the loose ball and skipping past two challenges before being fouled 25 yards out. Lampard would strike the free-kick, with only Ballack as competition after Alex's substitution.

The shot was straight and hard, Schwarzer just managing to push it over with his fingertips.

Such was Chelsea's supremacy in the opening 20 minutes of the second period, that the crowd might have forgotten Fulham were allowed to attack. Sub Diomansy Kamara reminded everyone it wasn't forbidden by shooting wide

It didn't take long for usual proceedings to be restored. Again Anelka supplied the pass, a low cross similar to that for Drogba's first goal against Liverpool a couple of weeks back, hard to the near post, and the same player connected but this time knocking it just wide.

Their interplay, so inventive all afternoon, deserved another goal but it would have to wait for another time, Anelka heading Malouda's cross wide just before Drogba was replaced by Franco Di Santo for the final six minutes.

Not surprisingly there was a standing ovation from the 41,801 crowd, Drogba responded with a kiss of the badge as he departed the field.

With this game comfortably won and the pressure on Liverpool to deliver against Newcastle on Sunday, Hiddink can begin again to focus on how to beat Barcelona.

A repeat of today's performance by a front three very much on form would certainly help.

By Andy Jones

Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech; Bosingwa, Alex (Ivanovic h-t), Terry (c), A Cole; Lampard, Essien (Ballack h-t), Mikel, Malouda; Anelka, Drogba (Di Santo 84).
Goals Anelka 1, Malouda 9, Drogba 53

 Fulham (4-4-2): Schwarzer; Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky; Dempsey, Murphy (c), Etuhu, Gera; Zamora (Dacourt 75), Nevland (Kamara 35).
Goals Nevland 3
Booked Murphy 90+1