Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season in all competitions continued this evening as they picked up a 1-0 victory away to Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.
The Blues squandered a number of clear-cut chances throughout the night, but Nemanja Matic's header 10 minutes before the break was enough for them to claim all three points.
The win sees Jose Mourinho's side climb to the top of Group G with four points from their opening two matches in Europe.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at whether Chelsea were worthy winners at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Match statistics
Sporting
Shots: 15
On target: 3
Possession: 46%
Corners: 2
Fouls: 14
Chelsea
Shots: 15
On target: 7
Possession: 54%
Corners: 12
Fouls: 13
Was the result fair?
There is absolutely no doubt that Chelsea deserved to win this match tonight, but the only issue they will have is that they should have won it by more. The game should have been dead and buried by half time as Chelsea had missed three glorious chances before Matic had given them the lead.
They went on to miss a couple more after the break, and Mourinho will be wondering exactly how his side only found the back of the net once this evening. They completely dominated the first half and were on top for most of the second as well, although Sporting did improve a lot after the interval.
Even at 1-0, the game looked over at the break, but that lead seemed more and more shaky the longer the match went on. Sporting began to apply some pressure and, although Thibaut Courtois was never really tested in goal, you wouldn't have put it past the hosts grabbing a late equaliser. That would have been undeserved, however, as Chelsea were comfortably the better side tonight.
Sporting's performance
It was the cliched game of two halves for Sporting tonight. In the first 45 minutes they were completely overrun, second best to Chelsea in every area of the field. Their defence went AWOL time after time, and they needed to rely on an inspired performance from Rui Patricio to keep them in the game.
Patricio made a few more vital stops in the second half too, but Sporting looked like a different side after the break. As mentioned above, Courtois was never forced into a really testing save, but they began to look at lot more threatening in the final third and tightened things up at the back as well.
Still, there were shaky moments in defence as they struggled to deal with the likes of Diego Costa and Eden Hazard. Sporting would not have been able to complain if they had lost this one by four or five goals, so to only lose by one may be seen as a minor positive for Marco Silva. However, they can't afford too many repeats of that first-half display if they are to qualify for the knockout stages.
Chelsea's performance
Everything was good for Chelsea apart from the finishing tonight. The first half in particular demonstrated how strong the team is all over the pitch as they completely dominated. It was one-way traffic for large periods and they dealt with the Sporting attack far too easily.
Things changed a little in the second half as Sporting showed a bit more creativity in the final third, while Chelsea also went through a patch of struggling to keep hold of the ball as they had been doing in the first half. Still, they managed to create a couple more gilt-edged chances which, but for some poor finishing and good goalkeeping, could have seen the visitors thump their hosts tonight.
The lack of a killer touch in the final third will annoy Mourinho, as he could have had this match wrapped up by half time and rested the likes of Costa for Saturday's match against Arsenal. However, their poor finishing is the only aspect of the performance that he will be upset with as, other than that, it was a very accomplished one, deserving of their first Champions League win of the season.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Nemanja Matic: There were a couple of candidates for this award tonight, including Patricio in goal for Sporting, but the standout performer was Matic in midfield. He completely dominated the middle of the park and, while he is often associated with the unseen work, he also supplied a few very impressive passes, including one in particular to send Costa through on goal.
In addition to his excellent work in general play, he also popped up with a rare goal that proved to be the winner - although it didn't seem like that would be the case at the time. It was poor defending to allow him to peel off unmarked from the free kick, but he finished well for a player who doesn't usually find himself in that position, and that capped off an imperious display tonight.
Biggest gaffe
Take your pick from any of the glorious chances that Chelsea spurned. Costa, Oscar and Mohamed Salah were all to blame on separate occasions, but perhaps the worst offender was Andre Schurrle. Having already missed one good chance, the German latched on to a Hazard pull-back inside the box and, with time and space to pick his spot, fired wide of the target. All of the misses tonight were poor, but this was the only one that wasn't also down to good goalkeeping.
Referee performance
Antonio Mateu was certainly not the most popular man inside the stadium tonight, making a number of decisions that angered the home crowd. To be fair, he got the majority right, but on a couple of occasions he made the wrong call. He also dished out eight yellow cards, which was a bit excessive.
What next?
Sporting: Next up for Sporting is an away trip to face Penafiel on Saturday as they look to maintain their unbeaten start in the Primera Liga.
Chelsea: The big games keep on coming for Chelsea, who host Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Sunday.
Barney Corkhill
