A Frank Lampard brace and an opening goal by John Terry saw off plucky Blackpool tonight as the Blues start to chase down league leaders Manchester United.
A late strike by Jason Puncheon just about all the home side deserved.
Chelsea cement fourth place but now have their sights firmly on third-place Manchester City who are two points ahead of the Londoners but have played a game more.
United are nine points clear but Chelsea have a game in hand over them and must also face them at Old Trafford.
Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba looked lively for the visitors in the opening 10 minutes.
But the first effort on goal came from David Luiz, who screwed a right-footer from the edge of the Blackpool penalty area high over the bar.
Chelsea dominance was confirmed on 20 minutes when captain John Terry powered home a fierce header from a Frank Lampard corner.
Terry was unmarked from eight yards out and gave Richard Kingson no chance.
Torres almost opened his account two minutes later when his fine shot was saved by Kingson who was soon in action again beating away a left foot strike from right-back Jose Bosingwa.
Carney, responded for the home side on 27 minutes but his speculative long-range effort sailed high over Petr Cech’s crossbar.
Blackpool were unlucky not to level on 33 minutes when Zhirkov needlessly gave the ball away in midfield and Puncheon raced through and let fly with a daisy-cutter from just outside the Chelsea area which Cech pushed onto his left upright.
Cech was called into action four minutes later tipping over his bar a deft chip by Ian Evatt
Deep into injury time in the first half, Kingson produced a fine save deflecting a rasping left-footer by Ramires for a corner.
The home side started the second half brightly with James Beattie have an effort on goal with two minutes but the header was easily held by Cech.
Drogba was replaced by Salomon Kalou on 55 minutes after The Ivory Coast hit man was clattered by Beattie while defending the Chelsea goal.
On 62 minutes ref Mike Dean awarded Chelsea a penalty after Evatt appeared to upend Kalou.
Lampard stepped up and gently stroked home a clam, right-footer, sending Kingson the wrong way to double the visitors’ lead.
Chelsea then bisected the Blackpool rearguard three minutes later receiving the return ball with Kalou before slotting home a simple right-footer from eight yards out past Kingson.
That was Kingson’s last involvement in the game, as presumably injured; he was replaced by Mark Halstead.
With 19 minutes remaking, Carlo Ancelotti replaced ineffectual Yury Zhirkov with Florent Malouda while Matt Phillips replaced Carney and Bret Ormerod came on for Andy Reid.
Sensing the game safe for Chelsea, Ancelotti decided to bring on midfielder Josh McEachran, just 18, to replace Ramires.
Blackpool really should have scored with nine minutes to go but a quick break by Phillips saw him screw his left-footer across Cech’s goal and over the byline for a goal kick.
Chelsea’s rearguard was finally punched on 86 minutes when Puncheon did what Phillips failed to do and slotted home past Cech.
Ormerod almost notched a second for Blackpool after the Blues defence was pulled apart. Thankfully Cech was on hand to smother the drive.
Kalou missed a sitter with seconds remaining but it did not matter as the final whistle blew seconds later.
1 Petr Cech
18 Jose Bosingwa
4 David Luiz
26 John Terry (c)
3 Ashley Cole
7 Ramires
5 Michael Essien
8 Frank Lampard
17 Yury Zhirkov
9 Fernando Torres
11 Didier Drogba
Subs: 22 Ross Turnbull, 2 Branislav Ivanovic, 19 Paulo Ferreira, 46 Josh McEachran, 15 Florent Malouda 21 Salomon Kalou, 39 Nicolas Anelka.
Blackpool are expected to start in the following 4-5-1 formation:
Kingson; Eardley, Baptiste, Evatt, Crainey; Puncheon, Southern, Carney, Vaughan (c), Reid; Beattie.
Subs: Halstead, Taylor-Fletcher, Cathcart, Varney, Ormerod, Phillips. Kornilenko.
The referee is Mike Dean.