Di Matteo applauds Chelsea exhibition

Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo was full of praise for his side after their 6-1 rout of struggling QPR at Stamford Bridge.

A Fernando Torres hat-trick added to QPR’s relegation woes, with the Spanish striker building on the late winner that saw his side beat Barcelona in midweek.

Goals from Daniel Sturridge, John Terry and two from an in-form Torres made the score 4-0 to the home side at the half-hour mark.

Further strikes from Torres and Florent Malouda after the break sealed the win for Chelsea despite Djibril Cisse’s 84th minute consolation for Mark Hughes’ QPR.

“I think we played well today,” Di Matteo told Sky Sports. “We played some really good football and scored goals and the three points – we are pleased with the way we got them.

“We have some very good players in the squad. I have said from the first day that you need to utilise your squad and it’s the only way to be able to achieve our targets.

“I’m very pleased for everybody today – the ones that played and the ones that didn’t play. It’s been a good day for us.”

When asked if he expected a seven-goal encounter following his side’s exhausting Champions League semi-final victory over Barcelona, Di Matteo said he was surprised Chelsea managed to re-focus in time for the visit of QPR.

“No, if I have to be honest, after the mid-week Champions League game, sometimes it’s difficult to re-focus,” he said.

“But the players did extremely well today to focus for this game, and I have to say they surprised me.”

Torres, who has now scored 10 goals for Chelsea this season, has hit form at the right time, striking the back of the net four times in the last week.

“He deserves all the credit,” Di Matteo said. “He’s been working hard and the goals didn’t always come but we were always pleased with his attitude and his work-rate.

“The strikers eventually needed to score the goals and it’s good that he scored for us.”

QPR manager Hughes bemoaned his team’s terrible start to the match after they found themselves 4-0 down with barely 20 minutes played.

Hughes was disappointed his side never gave themselves a platform to take anything from the game.

“Obviously we’ve given ourselves a huge mountain to climb,” he told Sky Sports.

“You come to Chelsea, who are on a huge high after the events of mid-week, and really you’ve got to come out and be at it, disappoint them initially and not give them any encouragement, and we were unable to do that.

“We lost three or four goals in 20 minutes and there’s no coming back from that.”