Finally, it turned out to be another not-so-easy away match, like the one at Wigan. Despite Chelsea being way ahead of Stoke on paper, when it comes to a match on their pitch, in front of their home fans, it would all be different. The common characteristic of the promoted clubs is that of pride and spirit. Remember, they belonged to the best of the pack in the championship last season.

Their fans must have got used to see them scoring and winning. Now they’re going to be used as punch bags in the premier league and that’s exactly what they don’t want to see happening. They want to be taken seriously. This fuels their spirited displays especially in front of their crowds. As soon as the seasons starts, they want to show everyone that they deserve a place in the premier meague and they’re not here to make up the numbers. Unfortunately for them, it is quite difficult to sustain the early season euphoria for too long. But as long as it remains, the biggest mistake the top clubs can do is to under-estimate them while they’re on the road.

I think you’ve started wondering if I’m writing about the Arsenal vs Hull match. Well not, but our match could easily have become one like that. As far as I’ve seen, Chelsea never under-estimates any opponent (I’ll forget about Barnsley as it happened during the managerial gap). That’s the reason why Chelsea cannot be that easily upset by the bottom placed teams. We don’t play like how we want to play. We play the way it would get us what we want in terms of result. May be, that’s one big difference between the way Chelsea and Arsenal play. We can assess quickly, change and adapt smartly enough to get the three points.

We started with a very good team (there were no listless Joe Cole and out-of-sync Anelka). I’ve started liking this 4-1-4-1, which looks very very effective. I thought it worked only in FIFA 08. With wingbacks going forward, 4-1-4-1 gives so many options to attack. With the team of our quality, it would be crime not to win. Yes, it was a criminal waste of chances against Man Utd. Fortunately yesterday, we took a couple of our chances.

Our finishing still worries me. Almost all our regular goalscorers missed opportunities. Granted, some of them were only half chances made to look good chances by their skill. Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Kalou – all of them came close but only just. It was quite reflecting of the performance that the goal had to come from Bosingwa. Just when I was wondering ‘no one’s finishing well, who’s gonna score today?’, Bosingwa took the matters in his chest and then on his right foot to put us ahead.

For a right back, that’s an amazing goal. That could make Drogba proud. It was striking Drogbaish goal. Firstly, to understand the flight of the chip that comes his way, and to control the ball on his chest, not losing the ball or the sight of it while being so close to the goal and then blasting it home beating the goalkeeper and the goal line defender. Bosingwa can be very proud of his first Chelsea goal.

Once again my man of the match is Bosingwa for his goal and for setting up the second and also for the way he controlled the right strip of the pitch. Lampard wasn’t at his best but I thought he came up with his usual 7/10 performance. That’s his zone, 7/10. Most of the matches he gives a 7/10 but very rarely goes below a 6/10. That’s consistency. He made some key passes in this match, which would have got highlighted if they had ended up in goals. The chip that he gave to Bosingwa for the first goal was sublime. In a ball that’s given in those areas, there is very little margin for error. If it was little heavier, it would have gone out of play and if it was a little lighter, Bosingwa would not have been able to control it that well. Going by the performances so far this season, he completely deserved the raise that he got in his new contract.

Unfortunately Stoke City could not come up with this moments of magic. For all their determination and desire, they badly lacked quality in the final third. I was almost sure that they were never going to score, unless we let in a howler. Well, that almost happened. A typically chaotic set piece defending from Chelsea almost gave them a goal, but Mikel was quick enough to react. Despite our heart-thumping methods of set piece defending, we didn’t let one in. Watch Hull City’s second goal against Arsenal. After Gallas went sleeping in the box, Fibreglass was ball watching as it travelled into the net, while in our case, Mikel was sharp enough to react and throw himself at the ball.

Ashley Cole was again immense yesterday. This season for us would be remember for the exploits of our wing backs. I’m so happy that Ashley Cole is playing for us. He is such a great professional with full of spirit and determination. He is exactly what Arsenal is missing now. About 2 years back when the swap of Ashley Cole to William Gallas happened, I was so positive and happy and I wrote this:

What an amazing climax for a Chelsea fan! Both the Tevez/Mascherano and Ashley Cole/Gallas transfers end up being extremely beneficial for Chelsea. Ashley Cole = William Gallas + 5m pounds. What a deal for Chelsea. Getting a young top quality world class left back for just 5m pounds and a want-away aging defender.

For all the suspense, it had to happen only with minutes to go for the closure of the transfer window. While most see this transfer as a win-win situation, I see Chelsea coming on top in this move. We all know that Arsenal wanted 25m and even 30m for Cole. May be he is the best left-back in the world (I wonder if any Arsenal fan would say this now!). Is he worth 25m? Let’s assume that Arsenal know their numbers and this could be an acceptable valuation. Then it means we have sold Gallas for 20m pounds!!! If Gallas had to be sold separately, he wouldn’t have gone for more than 7m or 8m.

Ashley Cole is 25 years old and he has all of his career ahead of him. Gallas is 29 years old and might see maximum 2 more years before he seeks ‘new challenge’. Cole has one year left in his contract and Gallas too would be a free player at the end of this season. Even a 2-year old can now see that Chelsea has taken Arses for a ride in their master plan by delaying the transfer so much that it must have been really painful for Arsenal.

More than 2 years later, nothing has changed. It’s still a fantastic deal for Chelsea. Ashley Cole is worth every penny while Gallas is one of the biggest problems that Arsenal have. Gallas keeps committing blunder after blunder. Most of the goals let in by Arsenal are in one way or the other are from a Gallas blunder. Even with captaincy, he’s been pants. Arsenal must now admit that their acquisition of Gallas is a big failure.

Anelka scored a goal yesterday. I mean, he hit the football with his foot and the ball went in! Okay now, it was a very good finish. It was an easy chance for a striker. You’re a striker, you’re inside the box, you got no challenge around and the ball drops at your feet. You have no option other than to score a goal. He missed a sitter before that. He is turning out to be our own Adebayor. Taking million chances to score a goal, and if you keep counting the goals, it looks like a decent return. Drogba wasn’t too impressive. Will he take 8 more months to return to match fitness and form? I’d still take a bad Drogba over a bad Anelka, any day.

Oops, I almost forgot. Malouda was very impressive. The one thing that’s supposed to be his strength is his strength itself. He is not one of those wingers who can be bullied around. His confidence is really very high and he shows how strong he is when he is confident. He doesn’t want to give away possession and he wants to try things which he did not before. I’d say Scolari’s faith in Malouda has truly paid off. Just like any other fan, I love players that try a lot and play for the team. Go Malouda Go!

Credit to Stoke for the way they played. They did defend in numbers but they did not cave in meekly. Even after we scored and took lead, they didn’t lose heart. In the second half, they pushed us back and gave a little scare. But once Anelka scored our second goal, Chelsea were in full control of the match. The last 15 minutes of the match were almost training ground stuff. We played as if there were no opponents on the pitch. Stoke knew that they can do nothing to a Chelsea team that leads 2-0 with 15 minutes to go. Even Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal know that.

In other matches yesterday, Fernando Torres beat Everton 2-0 at Goodison park. Good for the kops. I’d prefer a title run with Liverpool than anyone else. Because when it matters they know where the self-destruct button is, leaving for us very little to do. Man Utd beat Bolton with the help another one of those scandalous Old Trafford penalties. If red cards be appealed against by clubs and rescinded by FA, I wonder why Bolton should not refer the penalty to FA. That won’t change the result but at least Ronaldo can be awarded a red card for that bloody dive. Yes, red card because they got a penalty which was crucial to their win.

I know Ballack did a similar stunt a few days back but at least in his case there was contact and he made the most of it, either for a penalty or to avoid an injury. In Ronaldo’s case, the defender got the ball so clearly that even the people from the stadium would have noticed it but then it’s Man Utd, it’s Old Trafford, it’s Ronaldo, it’s gotta be a penalty.

Don’t miss the Milan derby tonight. It’s gonna be fun. I don’t want a draw, please. If Inter wins, it will be difficult to bring them down. If Milan wins, the war of words with Jose will begin again. In any case, it’s gonna be eventful. Anyway, it’s been a great weekend. We won 2-0. Arsenal lost at home, to Man Utd . . er . . sorry . . Hull City. We’re back on top of the table, deservedly so. Arsenal’s easy-peasy run of matches is over. Man Utd struggle even with Ronaldiver in their starting line up. While we are the most solid of all teams and look good bet to be champions. Good times ahead.