Chelsea beat Everton 6-3 in a crazy Premier League affair this evening to return to the top of the table.
The visitors were two goals to the good inside three minutes after a blistering start.
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First, Diego Costa drilled low through the legs of Tim Howard after running onto a Cesc Fabregas pass, before Branislav Ivanovic fired home from close range after collecting Ramires's prodded through-ball in what appeared to be an offside position.
Everton thought that they halved the deficit in the 16th minute when Romelu Lukaku saw his header come back off the bar and Sylvain Distin put the rebound into the net, but the defender was rightly flagged offside.
The hosts were then fortunate not to see goalkeeper Tim Howard punished for handling the ball outside the area, while up the other end they came close through Steven Naismith on a couple of occasions.
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They did find the net on the stroke of half time when Kevin Mirallas leapt highest to power Seamus Coleman's cross into the far corner.
Costa had a chance to restore the visitors' two-goal advantage seven minutes into the second half, but was denied by Howard when clear through on goal.
Midway through the second half, Chelsea did score a third when Eden Hazard's pace saw him beat James McCarthy to the left byline and his low cross was inadvertently turned in at the near post by Coleman's sprawling challenge.
It would be the first of five goals in 11 minutes.
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Two minutes later, Everton were back within one when Naismith scored his third goal in three games with a cool outside-of-the-boot finish after being rolled in by Aiden McGeady.
Chelsea struck their fourth soon after when Nemanja Matic's low shot from outside the box squirmed through the blocks of Distin and Phil Jagielka before nestling in the corner.
Once again Everton hit straight back through debutant Samuel Eto'o, who netted against his former club with a pinpoint header from a Leighton Baines free kick.
But Chelsea went up the other end once more to re-establish their two-goal advantage, as Ramires poked across Howard into the far corner from a tight angle.
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Everton were so close to again pegging Chelsea back in the 81st minute when a slick move ended with Mirallas's improvised finish being tipped onto the post by Thibaut Courtois.
Jose Mourinho's side would put the icing on the cake in the last minute of normal time, though, when Everton debutant Muhamed Besic cheaply gave the ball away with his first touch in the Premier League, presenting the ball to John Obi Mikel, who backheeled into Costa's path and the Spaniard cooly finished for his fourth goal of the season.
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Chelsea are back on top of the table going into the international break, with Everton still winless on two points and in 16th place.
Pascal Lemesre
