Crystal Palace 0 Chelsea 2Didier Drogba repaid a slice of his £24 million fee as Chelsea came out of their defensive shell to punish promoted Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last night. The Ivory Coast striker headed the first goal in the 28th minute, with Portuguese midfielder Tiago Mendes wrapping things up with a second goal.
The critics had begin to call megabucks Blues "boring, boring Chelsea" but they opened their repertoire of skills more comfortably against a side who struggled to gain a foothold in the game.
There are certainly tough times ahead for Iain Dowie's Palace, who have taken just one point from their three games so far. Chelsea, on the other hand, have now made their best start to a Premiership season in 10 years - with this win following single-goal victories over Manchester United and Birmingham.
Jose Mourinho's men have still to concede a goal and are gradually looking more the part in attack. So nobody had better tell Mourinho they finished mid-table back in 1994-95 after opening with victories over Norwich, Leeds and Manchester City.
Mourinho made five changes from the side which took the points from St Andrew's last Saturday, with left-back Wayne Bridge an injury victim. But there was still no room for the talents of Damien Duff and Scott Parker - £27 million of transfer market talent who failed to make the squad of 16.
Palace did not have a player to match the sweet talents of Joe Cole, the match-winner last Saturday and a huge influence again here.
Drogba, welcomed to Selhurst Park with a good old-fashioned crunching tackle by Australian centre-back Tony Popovic, replied when a towering header gave Speroni no chance on 28 minutes.
It was negligent of Palace to give Drogba so much room in the area to meet Celestine Babayaro's looping left wing cross and Drogba did not disappoint. But the move was worthy of a goal, with the tenacious Tiago strongly involved.
Yet it could have been different had Danny Granville converted a clear header from a Wayne Routledge corner after only 10 minutes. But Granville, the only survivor from the previous meeting between these two teams six years ago - he was a Chelsea player then - thudded his header down into the turf and wide.
Mourinho's desire for fresh legs was well founded as Palace played with pace - although there was still nothing like an over-abundance of flair.
Chelsea showed bags of strength and efficiency and defended strongly when they had to do so, but with stylists like Joe Cole and Drogba in the side they will improve their quality. But with Cole roaming from the left to great effect Palace were on the rack for a spell after Chelsea took the lead.
Frank Lampard fired a good chance over the bar before Cole embarked on another bristling run and saw his shot blocked on the edge of the area.
Palace could not find the final pass when they managed to raise some counter-attacks and they were soon under pressure again with Cole again testing Speroni from distance after Lampard's corner was only partially cleared.
The tireless Andy Johnson wasted a wonderful opening when he skated through in the inside right channel but promptly gave the ball away on the edge of the area with team-mates arriving in support.
Claude Makelele made sure Palace could drum up little rhythm in their attacks with his holding role in front of Chelsea's back four. It left the dashing Ivan Kaviedes starved of service from midfield.
But by the time the Ecuadorian striker was replaced by Michael Hughes, Palace were losing their way badly and a more meaningful substitution saw Mutu use practically his first touch to set up former Benfica star Tiago, who sped past Granville and cracked home the clinching second goal.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Speroni, Boyce, Hudson, Popovic, Granville, Routledge, Hall, Riihilahti, Kolkka, Johnson, Kaviedes (Hughes 67). Subs not used: Derry, Freedman, Borrowdale, Kiraly. Booked: Hudson.
CHELSEA: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Gallas, Terry, Babayaro, Makelele, Lampard, Tiago, Cole (Geremi 76), Drogba (Gudjohnsen 75), Kezman (Mutu 70). Subs not used: Ricardo Carvalho, Cudicini. Booked: Babayaro. Goals: Drogba 28, Tiago 72.
Referee: C Foy (Merseyside).
