Chelsea put a bit of a scare into us early, going behind early against a team they should beat with ease. Unlike the Chelsea squads of past seasons though, this group managed to be clinical enough in their finishing to effectively end the contest by the halftime whistle.
Chelsea were easily the most impressive team in the Premier League this weekend, and will sit atop the table tomorrow morning as a result of their excellent play. Here are my first thoughts after watching Monday night's game:
- I was surprised a bit by the lineup today. I fully expected to see Thibaut Courtois starting, but was surprised to see Filipe Luis on the bench. With a tough goalkeeping decision like that though, I can see the appeal of going with a back four with plenty of chemistry in front of the new keeper.
- I was less surprised that Oscar and Andre Schurrle were fit enough to start tonight. Really, did anyone ever doubt that the pair would put in the work required to be (close enough to) fully fit sooner than expected?
- It took exactly 30 minutes for the first truly terrible refereeing decision of Chelsea's new season. Michael Oliver decided to yellow card Diego Costa for diving when the center forward was clearly tripped by the goalkeeper in the box, a decision which probably would have put the game to bed with an hour left to play. No matter though, angry Bran took care of that just minutes later.
- Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas were just excellent today, weren't they? It would be silly to make too many judgments based on one game against a lousy opponent, but it was a very good game for both nonetheless.
- So much for a World Cup hangover from Andre Schurrle.
- Welcome back, Didier Drogba. You've been missed.
- This season is going to be fun. While the shortening days at the end of the summer are always sad in a way, the return of Chelsea football certainly makes the sun seem to stay out a bit later into the evening.