Chelsea 4 Portsmouth 0
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s reign as Chelsea manager began in impressive style as the Blues brushed Harry Redknapp’s team aside at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues quickly got into their stride with some neat, flowing football and new signing Deco, in particular, looking completely at home in West London. It wasn’t quite the Brazilian Samba Scolari had ordered, but in truth it wasn’t too far away.
It took just over ten minutes for the home side to open the scoring through Joe Cole. A glorious through ball by Ballack with the outside of his right boot, put the England international through and he finished well with a right footed shot from the edge of the box that James couldn’t keep out.
The goal settled Chelsea and they proceeded to take complete control of the game. Ten minutes later, last season’s runners-up had doubled their lead through Anelka, who could have scored minutes earlier after having been put through by Lampard.
This time, a cross in from the right by another debutante, Bosingwa, made its way to the back post where Deco was on hand to chip it back into the box and over David James. Anelka, outjumped Glen Johnson on the line for his first Premier League goal for Chelsea for six months.
Unlike last season when Chelsea where often accused of sitting back and defending a lead, Scolari’s men kept probing despite losing some slight rhythm when Michael Ballack went off injured to be replaced by Florent Malouda.
Anelka poked another chance wide from a long ball by Cech and Malouda, also made an immediate impact, firing in a dangerous low cross but neither Anelka and Deco could quite convert from close range.
Just before half time, the home side made the game completely safe. Joe Cole blasted the ball against Distin in the area and referee Alan Wiley pointed to the spot. With only seconds left on the first half clock, Lampard sent James the wrong way to ensure Chelsea went in at the interval with a three goal lead.
In truth Portsmouth simply couldn’t cope, the full backs Cole and Bosingwa were providing great width and penetration down the flanks, whilst with Deco prompting things in midfield, the visitors simply couldn’t gain a foothold in the game and Crouch and Defoe were left looking forlorn in attack.
The second half began in much the same fashion with both Anelka and Joe Cole having shots early on, but failing to trouble goalkeeper David James.
Portsmouth slowly began to see more of the ball in the second half but it was as much due to Chelsea slowly easing off as any improvement by the visitors who were second best all afternoon. Hreidarsson and Distin at the back were looking particularly poor and the midfield struggled to create any chances for Crouch and Defore up front.
The home side spent the second half in cruise control but still managed to apply a gloss finish to an impressive performance. Deco, who enjoying an excellent debut, supplied it in the final minutes. A speculative long range shot thundered past David James and ended up in the top corner. The home side were four goals to the good and last season’s FA Cup winners were well beaten.
The result sees Chelsea out of the blocks and having safely negotiated what appeared to be a tricky opening game with ease. New signings Bosingwa and Deco both looked impressive and appear to have added quality to an already strong squad. Big Phil is off to a flyer and the rest of the Premier League will be looking on nervously.
Portsmouth, meanwhile followed up last weekend’s poor performance in the Community Shield with another dismal display. After winning the FA Cup last season and adding Peter Crouch to their squad, much will be expected of Harry Redknapp’s side this season. Yet Portsmouth need to improve, and quickly, especially with the added distraction of the UEFA Cup to contend with this season.
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa (Ferreira, 84), Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack (Malouda, 38), Lampard, Mikel, Deco, Joe Cole (Wright-Phillips, 78), Anelka.
Portsmouth: James, Kaboul, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Johnson, Diarra (Mvuemba, 68), Diop, Kranjcar (Thomas, 72), Defoe, Crouch.
Easy win for Chelsea in their opening game with Joe Cole opening the account.
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