Premiership: Charlton Athletic 0 - 2 Chelsea

That's entertainment? Chelsea purport not to care but nobody in their right minds wouldn't prefer a touch of class to be added to the perfunctory demand for job done. If the rest of the Premiership consoled themselves that Chelsea have been unappealing in their triumphs thus far this season, the bad news is they won handsomely enough here.

Their 100 per cent record goes on - at the expense of Charlton's - and there were positive displays from an attack in which scorers Hernan Crespo and Arjen Robben and creators Damien Duff and Michael Essien looked sharp and inventive for longer periods than they previously managed this campaign.

At the other end, the foundation stones were as unshakeable as ever. Six games without being breached represents the most miserly start to a Premiership campaign.

When will someone dare to have a go at Chelsea? When their closest challengers, who are at home, scarcely dare offer too many men in support of their lone striker it's difficult to see how the veneer of invincibility around their rearguard will be scratched. The in-form Darren Bent didn't have a sniff all afternoon.

It's a state of the football nation that shifting tickets for a duel between the top two, with Charlton relishing their finest start to a season and Chelsea reigning champions, should have proved such hard work. The 'Sold Out' signs only went up two days before the game.

Peter Varney, chief executive at The Valley, outlined strong concerns about 'warning signs' for the Premiership.

Pertinently, with Jose Mourinho's side popping in, Varney added it isn't just about money. 'Fear of failure and negative play must not take over. Football is an entertainment industry,' he said in his programme notes.

That's not, as we know, a philosophy shared by Chelsea's results-obsessed manager but they started adventurously enough here.

But Charlton held their ground, kept their nerve and tried not to get too riled by the maverick wide men, Robben and Duff, who switched and zipped and occasionally went theatrically to ground.

Just as Charlton began to settle, they were oh so close to being unstitched on the counterattack when on 20 minutes Chelsea should have taken the lead.

Radostin Kishishev lost the plot and the ball - not for the first time - inexplicably gifting it to Michael Essien. The Ghana midfielder reacted brilliantly, releasing Crespo in a flash. The Argentina striker bore down on goal and Charlton braced themselves to go behind. To their relief, though, Crespo's drive rebounded off the base of the post. A monumental let off.

Having hung in there, Charlton slowly found the confidence to press on.

They needed a spark to raise the tempo, and it came from Danny Murphy. His determined run to the edge of the penalty area might not have been perfect - he missed the opportunity to provide Bent with some rare service - but it quickened the pulse and got the crowd going. Dennis Rommedahl then took up the baton when he whipped a shot just wide.

Charlton had a feeling familiar to all Premiership teams - the bewilderment that comes with hitting the brick wall that is Chelsea's defence. John Terry excelled himself as usual. It may have been a trick of the eye but it did look suspiciously like he was the only man on the pitch who ever won a header, so persistent was his aerial dominance.

Chelsea came out strong in the second half.

William Gallas scrambled a corner against a post just after the restart, and then, when Chris Powell switched off, Crespo pounced and Andersen kept Charlton in the game.

Parity didn't last long, however. Chelsea disappeared over the horizon with two goals in five minutes.

The breakthrough came when Kishishev lost possession for the third time in a dangerous area and Essien lobbed the ball onto Crespo, whose finish was clinical.

Robben then seized the moment to score with a touch of finesse. Receiving the ball on the edge of the box from Duff, he jinked into enough space to find room to bend the ball into the far corner. A picture book strike from the Dutchman.

'That's why we're champions,' sang the visiting Chelsea supporters. Well, that and - even more crucially - the small matter of a defence which seldom concedes a chance, never mind a goal.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Hernan Crespo A classier customer than the powerhouse with whom he rotates, Didier Drogba, Crespo led Chelsea's line with authority, intelligence and coolness. Having hit a post early on when he should have scored, his temperament was undamaged. The killer instinct lurks constantly and he took his goal ruthlessly.