Eidur Gudjohnsen ensured Jose Mourinho’s reign as Chelsea manager got off to the perfect start with a 1-0 win over Premiership title rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
The Icelander’s well-taken 15th-minute strike made the difference between the two teams and secured a valuable psychological edge for the west London club as well as a three-point cushion.
But Mourinho will be well advised not too read too much into an early-season encounter in which his team were, for long periods, second-best to a United side missing half of Sir Alex Ferguson’s first team.
Only three of Chelsea’s seven summer arrivals made it into Mourinho’s starting line-up: the goalkeeper Petr Cech, right-back Paulo Ferreira and Didier Drogba.
That amounted to a tad more than £50-million-worth of new talent on display and by the end of the match, with Mateja Kezman and Ricardo Carvalho appearing as late substitutes, that figure had risen to more than £75-million.
But it was United’s makeshift line-up that delivered the better value for their supporters for most of the match, in terms of industry at least.
The extra competitive edge gained from having already played in the Community Shield and in a midweek Champions League qualifier was evident from the outset as Ferguson’s men quickly took up residence in their hosts’ territory.
It was the visitors, too, who carved out the clear chance of the afternoon. Ryan Giggs’s cross found Alan Smith unmarked but the former Leeds forward was unable to direct his header on target.
It took only a further five minutes, however, before Drogba was given the opportunity to start repaying some of the £24-million it cost Roman Abramovich to lure the Côte d’Ivoire striker from Marseille.
Unchallenged on the edge of the area, Drogba was able to meet Geremi’s cross from deep on the right with a textbook knockdown for Gudjohnsen, who deftly clipped the bouncing ball over Tim Howard with just enough pace to beat Roy Keane’s desperate lunge.
It was a goal that belied what had gone before it and what followed, although the absence of Ruud van Nistelrooy was apparent as United failed to transform some good half-chances into shots on target.
The best of them came on the half-hour mark, a neat lay-off from Giggs presenting Paul Scholes with a shooting opportunity just inside the area that his teammate shanked wide of the target.
Chelsea rallied briefly towards the end of the first half and Frank Lampard went close with a low drive from Gudjohnsen’s short free-kick, awarded after Drogba had been checked by United captain Roy Keane on the edge of the area.
That was to prove Drogba’s last meaningful contribution on his introduction to English football and he was withdrawn by Mourinho in favour of another new signing, Mateja Kezman, 20 minutes from the end.
By that stage Chelsea were doing a good job of controlling the match and it was not until nine minutes from the end that United got another chance to equalise after a well-worked move down the right.
Diego Forlan’s intelligent pass gave Smith a yard of space and his cross to the back post was perfectly judged for Giggs but the winger’s header flew a yard wide of Cech’s right-hand post. — Sapa-AFP