Rampant Chelsea maul QPR 6-1

Fernando Torres hit his first Chelsea hat-trick as the Blues stepped up their bid for a top four finish with a 6-1 demolition of west London rivals QPR featuring Super Eagles Taye Taiwo on Sunday.

Torres has endured a mostly miserable 15 months since his British record £50 million move from Liverpool, but the Spanish striker looks revitalised after his crucial late goal in Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final triumph against Barcelona.

He was far too hot for QPR’s statuesque defenders to handle and scored twice in the first half and once after the break to seal his first treble since September 2009, when he scored three for Liverpool against Hull.

Early strikes from Daniel Sturridge and John Terry had set the tone as the Blues destroyed QPR with four goals in the first 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge and Florent Malouda completed their biggest Premier League win of the season.

With the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday and the Champions League final against Bayern Munich next month, Chelsea are eyeing a glorious end to a difficult season.

In contrast, QPR, who netted late on through Djibril Cisse, are above the relegation zone only on goal difference

The match had started without the traditional pre-match handshake, which was scrapped to avoid affecting Terry’s upcoming trial over charges of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

But Sturridge, one of six changes made by interim boss Roberto Di Matteo, quickly got the focus back on football.

Just 45 seconds after kick off, Sturridge opened the scoring with a ferocious strike from the left edge of the penalty area that flashed past Paddy Kenny at his near post.

Confidence was clearly surging through Chelsea after the epic win at the Camp Nou and Frank Lampard went close to increasing the lead when his delicate chip forced Kenny to tip over.

That was only a temporary escape for QPR as Terry got the second goal from the resulting corner, the Chelsea captain out-muscling Clint Hill to reach Juan Mata’s corner and direct a downwards header past Kenny from close-range.