Magic Football Returns to Stamford Bridge: Chelsea 4-0 Portsmouth

Sunday saw the opening game of Chelsea's campaign to regain the Premiership title, and what a start it was.

From the first whistle they dominated, playing the kind of football that owner Roman Abramovich craves. Fans were treated to a spectacle beyond their wildest dreams as new signing Deco tore up the pitch with his accuracy, vision and incredible skill.

In my opinion it was the finest performance from a Chelsea team since Gianfranco Zola left the club. They played with what has been lacking in previous campaigns: passion. You could see it on the faces of all the players; they were entirely focused on the game but also thoroughly enjoying themselves. And so they should have been.

Joe Cole opened the scoring in the 12th minute after a fine pass from Michael Ballack, and Anelka couldn't miss after some fine interplay from the two debutants after 26 minutes, right-back José Bosingwa and Deco, who appears to be able to play anywhere, any time. A Frank Lampard penalty effectively killed the game on the stroke of half-time, after Hreidarsson handled in the area.

Portsmouth had a few chances in the opening 45 minutes, a Peter Crouch header (..!) which was comfortable for Cech as well as shots from Nico Kranjcar and former Chelsea player Glen Johnson. It was Chelsea that ran the game though, with passes connecting beautifully into wonderful, fluid movements which were impossible for the Pompey midfield to deal with.

Deco has brought that extra touch of class we so badly needed. He was an absolute joy to watch and his incredible skill has rubbed off on some players who were uninspiring last year. Florent Malouda was brought on to replace the injured (for a change) Michael Ballack on 37 minutes and made some blistering runs down the left wing in the second half.

Bosingwa is another fantastic addition to the squad. He was immense down the right until his second-half substitution, and was afforded acres of space to make some amazing runs. He's got a cross on him too 

3-0 at half time doesn't necessarily mean anything, as any Tottenham fan will tell you, but Chelsea's dominance continued through the second period, with most of the action contained in the Portsmouth half. 

Pompey had another handful of chances to beat Cech but were unable to get past him and his magic hat. By the 80th minute, Cech was all alone in the Chelsea half as everyone pushed forward to enjoy the creativity in the game.

Then, two minutes before the end of the 90, Deco capped his first competitive performance in a Chelsea shirt with an absolute screamer from 30 yards out. He effortlessly curled the ball into the top corner. David James managed to get a hand to it, but nothing was going to keep that out.

 Portsmouth had a bad game, very bad considering they want to qualify for Europe next season. They were disjointed and lacked any creativity or real passing movement all through the game. However, they won the FA Cup last year and took Man United to penalties in the Community Shield this year, so they're no Stoke City. Besides, Portsmouth's relatively poor performance should take nothing away from a breathtaking disply of footballing genius by the boys in blue.

 I can't wait for Man Utd to turn up at the Bridge. If we can keep that level of play up, we'll spank anyone. Bring it on!