Samuel Eto'o scored twice and Demba Ba added a third as Chelsea took control of Group E by repeating the 3-0 scoreline of two weeks ago against their German opponents. Eto'o charged down goalkeeper's Timo Willebrand's clearance for the first and scored the second after collecting Willian's pass. Ba completed the scoring when he finished off Frank Lampard's cushion pass over the static Schalke defence.

Jose Mourinho made six changes from the defeat in the North East, although he had stated that he had made "eleven mistakes" at the weekend in their loss to Newcastle, but more will be made of Eden Hazard's ommission after "missing a crucial training session".

Schalke started strongly as Chelsea surrendered possession too easily, Julian Draxler and Adam Szalai firing efforts wide but this awoke Chelsea and Andre Schurrle saw his 20 yard free kick saved by Hillebrand. However the goalkeeper was at fault for Chelsea's first on 31 minutes. He hesitated before attempting his clearance and this gave enough time for Eto'o to get the block in, the ball rebounded off the striker and into an empty net.

This settled Chelsea down but the Blues were indebted to another fine save from Petr Cech early in the second half as he tipped round the post another Draxler effort. The save proved crucial as Eto'o doubled the lead moments later. Willian made a run from midfield into the penalty area and played in Eto'o, he took a touch and powered in a shot past Willenbrand.

Chelsea had effectively killed off the tie and added a third on 83 minutes when Lampard lofted a ball over the defence for Ba to swivel and fire home his first Champions League goal.

The win puts Chelsea 3 points clear of Schalke with two games to play, the next being a home game against Steaua Bucharest before the final game in Switzerland when they take on Basle.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Mikel, Cahill, Terry, Willian, Ramires, Eto'o (Ba 77), Oscar (Lampard 81), Schurrle (De Bruyne 78)

Schalke: Hildebrand, Uchida, Aogo, Neustadter, Howedes, Matip, Draxler (Clemens 62), Jones, Szalai, Boateng (Kolasinac 77), Fuchs (Meyer 67)