Chelsea made their Premier League return in style this afternoon, thrashing Aston Villa 8-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Fernando Torres opened the scoring within three minutes before David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic made it 3-0 at half time.
The Blues refused to let up in the second half, with Frank Lampard, Ramires (2), Oscar and Eden Hazard all adding their names to the scoresheet, while youngster Lucas Piazon also missed a penalty.
Villa failed to threaten at all throughout the match, and were thankful when Phil Dowd finally ended their misery.
Here Sports Mole analyses a goal-laden day for Chelsea.
Match statistics:
Chelsea:
Shots 24
On target 18
Possession 63%
Corners 8
Fouls 6
Aston Villa:
Shots 7
On target 4
Possession 37%
Corners 4
Fouls 11
Was the result fair?
Absolutely. Chelsea dominated from start to finish and Villa created nothing going forward. Eight goals may have been a bit harsh on Villa, but Chelsea were ruthless and refused to let up, so deserved a big win. At times it looked as if Chelsea had far more men on the field, partly down to Lambert's refusal to park the bus, but they were the far superior team throughout.
Chelsea's performance
Fantastic. They made a perfect start with a goal in the first couple of minutes and built up a comfortable lead at half time. Then, instead of defending that lead, they pushed on and reaped the rewards. The front four were a joy to behold at times in the second half in particular.
Aston Villa's performance
Paul Lambert will be wondering how the same 11 players can produce such polar opposite performances. Lambert chose to stick with the side that played so well against Liverpool, but they were well and truly humiliated today. They had no threat going forward and looked vulnerable at the back with every Chelsea attack.
Sports Mole's man of the match
David Luiz: To be honest, most of the Chelsea team could have won this. Lampard for his landmark goal, Hazard, Mata and Moses for the way they tormented the defence, but Luiz was probably the most consistent performer throughout both halves, and looks to have found his position in the centre of midfield.
Biggest gaffe
There weren't many 'gaffes' as such, but Benteke's performance in the first half warrants this 'award'. The striker was deadly against Liverpool, but spent the majority of the first half today standing in an offside position! Any time Villa threatened to come forward they couldn't give it to their danger man because he had made his run too early.
Referee performance
Phil Dowd handed out a total of zero bookings throughout the match. He approached the latter stages with a hint of sympathy for Villa, but still made big decisions when he needed to, such as giving Chelsea two penalties. Both were probably on the soft side, but Dowd is by no means the only ref who would have given them. All in all a good performance.
What next?
Chelsea: Chelsea face a Boxing Day trip to Norwich next, before ending an eventful year with another away day to Everton.
Aston Villa: Villa have two consecutive home ties, facing Tottenham on Boxing Day before hosting Wigan next Saturday.
Barney Corkhill
