Frank Lampard’s hat trick helped Chelsea rout Bolton on Sunday while Fulham thrashed QPR 6-0 in their London derby and Swansea beat Stoke 2-0 in Sunday’s other games.
Chelsea is third in the standings after Lampard led the Blues to a 5-1 victory at bottom-place Bolton.
Daniel Sturridge set the tone for Chelsea’s emphatic win at Bolton by heading in a second-minute opener before setting up Lampard to score his first.
Two errors in quick succession by Bolton goalkeeper Adam Bogdan allowed Lampard and Sturridge to each score again.
The Hungarian let Sturridge’s shot from the edge of the box loop in off him when he should have saved it. Lampard buried his second after David Luiz’s strike was parried straight to the midfielder.
Dedryck Boyata had given bottom-place Bolton a faint hope of a comeback at 4-0 with a 46th-minute headed goal, but Didier Drogba set up Lampard’s third.
At Craven Cottage, Fulham moved two points clear of the drop zone thanks to Andy Johnson hat-trick, Fulham’s first in the Premier League.
Johnson scored within two minutes of the opening whistle, and followed that up by winning a penalty that was converted by Danny Murphy, before turning home a cross from Bobby Zamora before half time and bringing up his hat trick just before the hour mark.
Zamora then set up Clint Dempsey, who returned the favor for his strike partner to score the sixth.
In south Wales, Scott Sinclair put Swansea ahead from the penalty spot after Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross’ rash challenge on Wayne Routledge.
And Danny Graham fired home his first goal for Swansea since moving from Watford for a club-record 3.5 million pounds this summer.
