Chelsea played with such freedom and swagger that it would have scared some of our fellow contenders. It was truly a fearsome performance by Chelsea. If we play like this against an opposition of Villa’s quality, we could give sleepless nights to Fergie and Rafa. Because, Chelsea are also consistent with some robotic accuracy. This kind of uber-confident style of playing is coupled with our consistency, is what you call champions’ stuff.

We were supposed to be in some injury situation here. We were missing first choice players in defence, midfield and attack – Carvalho, Deco, Essien and Drogba. We also had problems with Alex, Ashley Cole and Terry. Anelka and Joe Cole went off limping during this match. But nothing could stop the Chelsea juggernaut in their ruthless demolition of big-four-wannbe Aston Villa. Martin O’ Neill’s boys have started very strongly this season. They think their dream of breaking into the top four could be a reality this time. They have been playing in a way that substantiates their belief and hope. At Stamford Bridge today, Martin O’ Neill would have realised what it takes to be in that exclusive league of top four.

Scolari started with his usual 4-1-4-1 formation. He didn’t surprise many with his team selection. The only decision he had to make was to start with Kalou or Joe Cole, where he chose the latter. Ivanovic made his premier league debut. That was the strongest starting eleven we could come up with. In the end, it appeared that player selection did not matter much as the Chelsea unit were so determined and confident that they would send Aston Villa packing. Players like Ivanovic and Franco were making premier league are not regulars but the way they stuck to their jobs was fantastic to see. Together, they gave a performance which was nearly flawless. I must be a bitch to look for negatives in this game, which I would later on ;-)

The big positives first. Nicolas Anelka scores, again. I wasn’t mightily impressed with the way he scored but I liked the way he played. Was this his best match in a Chelsea shirt? He put in the hard work today. He movement was fine. He participated in the scheme of attacks like never before. He seemed to have understood what was happening and what his role was in the plan. He also worked for his colleagues. He won possession and lost very rarely, created space, made some interesting runs, and even set up for his colleagues. He’d surely become more popular with Chelsea players more importantly, and also with the fans, if he keeps trying so well.

Why did Anelka have his off day? How did he play so well? I have a guess. He must have seen how Franco di Santo performed in the training. He knows Drogba is off for few weeks and this is his best chance. And now he must have thought that Franco could be a realistic threat to his place in the starting eleven. I could imagine how this boy Franco would have impressed Scolari in the training session. Sounds like a good theory?

It was a pleasure to see Franco in action. He was as good as I thought he would be. He was very quick but I think we did not see a fair display of his pace and acceleration in this match. Despite all the pounding Villa were not pushing up and hence Franco did not have too much space to showcase his pace but I could see the glimpses. His movement was awesome. For such a young striker, he was so aware of where was and where he should move. He looked like a natural striker. He moved and played rather intuitively. He also has this composure that allows him to dribble and beat the defenders right inside the box. It’s a shame he didn’t score.

There was this moment when he positioned himself so well in front of the goal and was pleading for the ball, while Lampard absolutely inconsiderate of Franco’s request, went ahead and blasted one himself from all of 25 yards. If I were Lampard, I’d have given the ball to Franco, for two reasons. One is Franco was right in front of goal and had the best position of all to score and second is he’s just come in, he should score, he should gain confidence. Franco was unhappy and surprisingly did not hide his feelings! Let’s play him more. I see a real gem in Franco. How do you think Franco will do, if Scolari uses him as much as Wenger uses Walcott? Anybody gets better with time, good players certainly do.

How did you find Franco di Santo?

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Do you realise something? Franco di Santo destined to succeed. He’s got a name that sounds ‘frank’ in there. We have some very illustrious Franks in Chelsea. In the early nineties it was Frank Sinclair, in the late nineties it was Gianfranco Zola, and in the early 2000s it was super Frank Lampard and now it could be Franco di Santo!

Ivanovic impressed me. He was absolutely calm and cool in the way he went about his business. I’ve seen Alex fit into this back line seamlessly like he’d been playing with Terry and Cech for ages. Now, Ivanovic does even better. He is from the Russian league, which is not the most respected in Europe. He must have been playing in some sub zero temparatures. He never played champions league. He just walks in to play in this crucial match against a very good team like Villa, plays in front of the home crowd and plays so bloody well. He must be a very good player. He is just 24. He’s got his prime ahead of him.

Our midfield was class. The trio of Lampard, Ballack and Mikel simply owned Villa. Many a times, Aston Villa were running out of ideas as they realised how difficult it was to get a decent ball past this midfield. Ballack and Lampard should have scored as they had some lovely shots on target. Lampard once again, is my man of the match. He ran the show for us. He bossed that area, while defending and attacking. Anyway, he should have finished that simple header. That was a bad miss but despite that Lampard was right on the money. Joe Cole scored a superb goal. He certainly owed it to us after a string of poor performances. It was a great finish. Wish he had finished one of those chances against Man Utd like that. Malouda is well and truly back. I think we’ve started to see the best of him.

Ashley Cole and Bosingwa were once again, so good that it felt like we were playing more than 11 players on the pitch. At this rate, Bosingwa must be in the reckoning for the player of the season. Kalou played for less than 40 minutes and see the havoc he created. He is certainly in form. We should have a plan for him. Anyway, Joe Cole never plays consistently well for all 90 minutes. Like today, may be they should play either halves of the match, Kalou coming later. I guess that would be a good plan.

And then, as I promised, now on to the negative from the match. In a match where it was difficult to pick the man of the match because of so many sterling performances, one man’s performance stood out, for all wrong reasons. Yup, John Terry. Very panicky, very confused, very unlike of him. I’ve never felt the nerves when he is control of the ball. But nowadays, he’s becoming too error-prone. He’s too shaky, his confidence is down. In matches like today, we could have got away because we were so bloody dominating in attack. In very tight matches, one mistake could prove too costly. I’m not sure what’s bothering him. Is the Moscow night still haunting him? I hope not. If yes, the only way to erase that is by winning it in Rome. On current form, he is not quite leading us. When the other 10 players are giving 7/10 and 8/10 performances, he cannot possibly lead them with a 4/10 or a 5/10. Scolari should take note. He must do something.

In the dug out, Scolari always appears to be upset. If you had just turned your TV on, going by his facial reactions, you might wonder if we are trailing by a couple of goals. All his animated gestures from the dug out are to keep his men on their toes. He is a very reasonable man. I found that out after the home draw against Tottenham. Here is Scolari sounding very happy and satisfied:

I am satisfied because we played very well and for me it’s the most important game in the season because if we win we are in first position in the league and we have now a minimum of ten days to recuperate our players. Afterwards when we start the league after 10 or 15 days we are all in good condition. This is most important for us and we can continue from first position in the league, still top in the Champions League and in the next round of the Carling Cup. What more could I want? Nothing.

This was undoubtedly our best match of the season so far. If you didn’t get to watch, do watch the replay of the match. Highlights won’t do justice, watch the whole match. Frankly, you cannot ask for more. We had 61% possession, 35 shots, of which 14 were on target and allowed Aston Villa only one shot on target. In the first half, we played high tempo and scored those goals. In the second half, we played a bit slower but some quick slick moves in the final third.

Chelsea’s versatility with playing styles was a joy to watch. We can play any type of football depending on the circumstances. We are not the types to lose points and cry about the opponents’ tactics. We recognise their approach and employ a counter tactic to break them up. That’s why Chelsea does not have a set playing style. We can play your slick passing game, we can play long balls to target men, we can bomb down the wings, we can cut you through the centre with throughballs, we can build up play ever so slowly, we can make you pay in those set pieces and we can kill you with our long shots too.

Not only we’re in fine form, we are on top of the league with a very very comfortable goal difference of 11. What a time to take the international break! By the time we return to the premier league, we might have Deco and Carvalho back in the squad. Imagine what they can add to this team now. I’m sure we must be scaring the hell out of our rivals. ‘How can you stop Chelsea’ would soon be the topic!