Dazzling Chelsea Make Mockery of Injury Concerns

Chelsea seemed a team apart yesterday, even if Liverpool's comeback at Manchester City means they still have company at the head of the Premier League. It took a keen memory to remember that players of Ricardo Carvalho and Deco's status were missing when Luiz Felipe Scolari's side performed as if it lacked nothing whatsoever. The zest of the line-up is the most important factor of all.

These are people blinking in delight at everything life suddenly has to offer. Ashley Cole typifies that. He has learned well at Stamford Bridge how to be a resourceful defender but now the verve of his youth at Arsenal has returned and is in spate. It swept away these visitors.

Cole's key part in the second goal typified that. With fluent interchanging, Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard sent him to the by-line in the 44th minute. His concentration was intense as he focused on steering the cut-back acutely. It ran perfectly to Michael Ballack. Brad Friedel saved from the German and then Nicolas Anelka, but the France striker eventually got a finish into the net.

Chelsea, in theory, lack forwards and, in the absence of Didier Drogba, Anelka is the only seasoned player for that position. That seemed not to matter. It eggs Scolari's men on to set whirling moves in motion from the center of the pitch. Without outstanding work by Friedel, the score would have been a reliable measure of the crushing victory that actually occurred.

Villa have been coming on nicely and tests of this severity would make most sides look like abject failures. Martin O'Neill, however, will ponder the evidence. He has picked the same starting line-up in every Premier League fixture to date, but the selection process will not be made automatically next time around.

While the center-back Curtis Davies was taken off at half-time, he had been put in difficulties when he felt obliged to come out of the defence. He could not count on cover from the midfielders despite the fact that O'Neill, pulling Gabriel Agbonlahor on to the right long before the interval, had stationed five men in that area.

It was much too simple for Chelsea to identify openings. After 21 minutes, Malouda and Lampard had only to work the ball from left to right for the opener, with Joe Cole clear to belt a finish beyond Friedel. From Villa's perspective there must be exasperation that their entire side had been dragged toward the Chelsea left.

If the visitors had hope it lay in the fact that their opponents' minds eventually began to wander. John Terry perpetrated two weak headers in the vague direction of Petr Cech that might not be repeated over the course of this campaign and, perhaps, a few others.

In the 61st minute, Agbonlahor got to the ball ahead of the goalkeeper but Cech blocked and when the Villa attacker then chipped a cross, John Carew was not in position to head into an unguarded net. With the match in stoppage time, Terry was again careless but Cech was fast enough to beat Agbonlahor to the ball.

Chelsea will mostly be scolding themselves for leniency. The openings mounted up, yet they were usually squandered or dealt with by Friedel. Exasperation would have been stifled in the home support since they were having too much fun soaking up the imagination and movement of their team.

The suspected fragility of Chelsea was an illusion. With Carvalho absent and his deputy Alex also unfit, Scolari was forced to turn to Branislav Ivanovic. Although he cost £9m from Lokomotiv Moscow in January, this was the Serb's debut in the Premier League. Any regrets will lie in the lack of situations where he could show his prowess.

Scolari, in some respects, experienced concern. Anelka has a leg injury yet he was involved heavily before being taken off at half-time. The introduction of the Argentinian Franco di Santo simply granted the teenager the prospect of furthering his development in a stress-free environment. Chelsea are also savoring a little luck. Anelka and, for that matter, Joe Cole, will get over their knocks on their countries' time. Scolari's side is not in action again until they go to the Riverside on October 18. Middlesbrough have the verve and youth to be dangerous, but the outcome is of less interest than the fact that Chelsea might confirm that they are now entertainers.

It would be unjust not to bear in mind there were sparkling moments under Jose Mourinho but many were in the autumn of 2004 when Arjen Robben was at peak fitness. Gradually, it was the manager's pragmatism and strategic intelligence that came to the fore. The club can be grateful for trophies that were the fruit of that.

Scolari, with his authority, is Mourinho's true successor, after the interregnum of Avram Grant, and that period of relative failure works to his advantage. This is a new start as Chelsea, by different means, strive to regain the Premier League title. Sir Alex Ferguson was correct in his observation that there is a seasoned squad at Stamford Bridge. In common with the rest of us, the Manchester United manager erred purely in his assumption that Scolari could not rejuvenate their minds.Man of the match: Ashley Cole

The full-backs are now an important source of dynamism for Chelsea and Cole is reveling in the freedom he enjoys

Best moment The determined run which ended with a meticulous cutback that paved a way for Nicolas Anelka to score Chelsea's second goal