A commanding performance took Chelsea into the fourth round of the FA Cup and is certain to boost the side's morale.
Daniel Sturridge and Frank Lampard netted a brace each, added to by Salomon Kalou, Nicolas Anelka and Ipswich's Carlos Edwards, who nodded a Lampard freekick into his own net. Those goals combined to create the second biggest FA Cup win in the club's history.
It was a dominating performance from the Chelsea side, which included several young stars, and kick-started the FA Cup campaign which takes us to Goodison Park for a clash against Everton in the next round.
Josh McEachran started in midfield alongside Ramires and Frank Lampard, replacing Michael Essien who was on the bench. There was one change in defence from the side which faced Wolves midweek as Patrick Van Aanholt lined up at left-back.
Carlo Ancelotti also opted to put Didier Drogba on the bench; instead Nicolas Anelka sat in the centre of an attacking three. On his left, Daniel Sturridge started his first game since we hosted Zilina in the Champions League, while Salomon Kalou took up position on the right wing.
This was the seventh successive year Chelsea started the FA Cup campaign at home to a lower division club. We last met Ipswich at Stamford Bridge in January 2009, when an outstanding Lampard goal sealed a 3-1 victory.
When this season's game kicked-off on a sun-soaked pitch, Chelsea immediately took the initiative. Anelka nearly latched onto a Ramires through ball before Kalou narrowly missed connecting with a Van Aanholt cross after the young left-back broke past three players.
Sturridge nearly netted the opener after feeding off a perfect Lampard ball into the box but was denied by goalkeeper Martin Fulop who conceded a second corner before the 10-minute mark. Our number 23 then shot wide after gathering a Jose Bosingwa ball in front of goal.
An acrobatic Fulop save prevented an Anelka chance from finding the net as Chelsea smothered the visitors. The Ipswich shot-stopper denied the Frenchman again moments later. That was from a shot from 20 yards.
Ipswich's first real chance came when Jason Scotland broke on the counter-attack and forced Petr Cech to cover the far post, where he beat Connor Wickham to the ball before deflecting for a corner.
Wickham had a shot on goal minutes later and forced a good save from Cech, which in turn led to a clearance off the line by Troy Brown for Ipswich as Chelsea broke on the counter. Quick-footed Anelka struck a crisp shot which beat Fulop but not the defender.
McEachran, who looked comfortable in midfield, was next to worry the opposition fans with a cleanly-hit, left-footed effort from the edge of the box that was deflected for a corner. As Chelsea began to hone in on the target, Anelka sent a shot curling past the top right.
With 32 minutes played, Chelsea scored. Anelka's deft touch controlled a Kalou pass before the Frenchman danced his way into the box and shot. Fulop got his hands to the ball but the momentum was too much as it carried on towards the line and was helped over by a sliding Kalou.
The goal was the Ivorian's 50th in a Chelsea shirt and seconds later it was two. After a Bosingwa cross found Sturridge's feet at the near post the striker flicked a fantastic effort clean into the net on 33 minutes.
Chelsea wanted more and continued to pressure the Ipswich box. When David Norris fouled John Terry on the left flank, Lampard stepped up to take the set piece. It was the beginning of an own-goal as Carlos Edwards nodded the dangerous ball into his own net with three minutes of the first-half to play.
Ancelotti made no changes before the second-half got underway and Chelsea continued as they'd left off. Within minutes of the restart a confident McEachran dribbled through the defence before setting up Anelka to test Fulop once more.
The Frenchman was denied from his first shot of the half but his second, from the same position, flew in after a clever one-two between him and Kalou with 49 minutes played. The Frenchman scored from an acute angle.
Then Sturridge did it again! Finding himself with space just inside the box, the striker curled the ball past an out-stretched Fulop and into the bottom right with a right-foot strike. We were only seven minutes into the half.
With a comfortable lead established, Kalou made way for Gael Kakuta to come on and Chelsea were looking confident with plenty of fluid football. When Ipswich did win possession they were forced into long-ball football or shooting from far out.
Then, seconds after the restart, our vice-captain netted another as he slid onto an Ivanovic cross at the far post as Chelsea once again pressured the Ipswich area.
In stoppage time Gael Kakuta had the chance to increase Chelsea's lead after latching onto a through ball from Anelka but, after finding himself one-on-one with Fulop, the subsequent shot was deflected out for a corner.
There was still time for two more Chelsea corners as Fulop twice denied Anelka. The score stayed at 7-0 - a comfortable victory and the perfect start to our FA Cup campaign.
By Christian Collison
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry (c); Van Aanholt (Bruma 69); Ramires, McEachran, Lampard; Kalou (Kakuta 54), Anelka, Sturridge.
Unused subs Hilario, Ferreira, Essien, Malouda, Drogba.
Goals Kalou 32, Sturridge 33 + 52, Edwards o.g 42
Anelka 49, Lampard 78 +79.
Ipswich Town (4-4-2): Fulop; Brown, McAuley, O'Dea, Kennedy; Edwards, Norris (c), Healy, Peters; Scotland (Murray 49), Wickham (Priskin 63).
Unused subs Lee-Barrett, Delaney, Eastman, Smith, Civelli.
Booked Norris 41
Shots on target Chelsea 20 Ipswich 2
Corners Chelsea 13 Ipswich 1
Fouls Chelsea 4 Ipswich 7
Offsides Chelsea 2 Ipswich 2
Referee Andy D'Urso
Crowd 41,654
WITHOUT ADJUSTMENT (ORIGINAL POST) FROM : Chelsea FC Page
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