The Blues plundered five goals without reply against Boro and won at a canter despite boss Luiz Felipe Scolari having to find replacements for injured players worth £100million or more.

Some Boro fans may have sensed an upset pre-match as Chelsea had Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba all sidelined.

But the Blues turned to the likes of Carlo Cudicini, Wayne Bridge and the hugely impressive Juliano Belletti to humiliate Boro.

Southgate admitted his side had simply not been at the races.
The Boro boss said: "It's a humiliation. You lose at home and it is hard to take.

"But when you are beaten like that, it is a very humbling experience for all of us.

"There's a danger when you play a side of Chelsea's class that that can happen, but I don't think they had to be at their best, and yet they annihilated us."

The Boro boss admitted the disappointment was on a par with that he experienced after losing an FA Cup quarter-final to Coca-Cola Championship Cardiff last season.

He said: "It's a lonely place when you are standing on the touchline and your own fans are very disgruntled with things, and understandably so.

"It's painful, but we have to learn from the experience as a group."

Chelsea were utterly dominant on Teesside, but having taken the lead through Salomon Kalou's 14th-minute strike, they had to wait until the 51st minute to give themselves breathing space.

However, Belletti's 35-yard piledriver, which gave keeper Ross Turnbull little chance, was worth waiting for.

The game was effectively over two minutes later when Kalou fired home his second off the unfortunate David Wheater's chest, but there was worse to come for the Teessiders.

Kalou's delicious one-two with Nicolas Anelka, who will consider himself unfortunate not to have claimed a hat-trick on the day, allowed the midfielder to present Frank Lampard with a diving header, which the England international guided gleefully into the net.

Florent Malouda, who had earlier passed up a glorious opportunity, scored from close range with 24 minutes remaining after Turnbull had spilled Anelka's shot on to the post.