Cole Palmer struck a first-half hat-trick as Chelsea beat Wolves 3-1 at Molineux to make it four Premier League wins from four under Liam Rosenior.
After a tough spell for the England forward, marred by fitness issues, a dearth of goals and reports he is unsettled, this was a return of the free-scoring talisman that for so long carried the team but who now looks just one part of a balanced side brimming with promise.
Two of his strikes were penalties given away by dreadful Wolves defensive decisions but converted impeccably, before a third effort finished off at the end of a flowing Chelsea move made him the club's all-time record hat-trick scorer in the Premier League era, with four.
That took him ahead of such Blues royalty as Frank Lampard, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Didier Drogba.
Rosenior’s Chelsea have a long road to match the honours brought to Stamford Bridge by that trio, but this was further evidence of the soundness of the head coach’s appointment as the visitors cruised through against admittedly limited opposition.
Rob Edwards’ team were abysmal in the first half but much improved in the second, by which time they trailed by three in the driving Wolverhampton rain and were long beaten.
Tolu Arokodare scored to turn supporters’ jeers briefly into cheers but their team remain 18 points from 17th place and Championship-bound.
West Ham moved to within three points of safety and pushed Burnley a step closer to relegation with a 2-0 win that saw sections of the Turf Moor crowd turn on Scott Parker.
Crysencio Summerville scored for a fifth straight game 13 minutes in and when Taty Castellanos doubled the lead 13 minutes later, it felt like game over not just for the afternoon, but for Burnley's season as a whole as they were left 11 points adrift of 17th place.
Without a win in 16 league matches – one shy of a club record that dates from 1889-90 – Burnley could not take advantage of a home fixture against a West Ham side who travelled north with only one win in their last 10 on the road, but who left within touching distance of Nottingham Forest.
Many Burnley fans have now seen enough. Late in the first half, substitute Jacob Bruun Larsen tried to fire up fans behind the goal while warming up. Instead they responded with a chant of 'You’re not fit to wear the shirt’. Moments later, they followed it with ‘we want Parker out’.
A late turnaround helped Everton continue their fine away form with a 2-1 Premier League win at Fulham.
The Toffees' four-match unbeaten run on the road looked set to end thanks to Vitalii Mykolenko’s unfortunate 18th-minute own goal following a fine initial save by Jordan Pickford.
It would have made ugly viewing for David Moyes, up in the stands due to a touchline ban, but he watched Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall level with 15 minutes left before a corner by the same player was punched into his own net by Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno to consign Marco Silva’s men to a rare home defeat.
Irish defender Jake O'Brien had gone close to opening the scoring in London, but his header crashed off the crossbar in the eighth minute.
