Chelsea send out message with ultimate opening day victory
Published:Champions Chelsea swiftly showed how irrelevant their pre-season struggles were with the most emphatic opening weekend win in Premier League history, thumping promoted West Brom 6-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The perennial strong starters – who last failed to win their first game nine years ago – picked up where they left off last season, and have now scored 21 goals in their last three home league matches.
The scariest thing for rivals of the 13/8 favourites to win the Premier League is that Didier Drogba had said earlier this week that most Blues players “are not ready” and would take a few weeks to hit top form following the World Cup.
The Ivorian, who scored a hat-trick in the battering of the Baggies, is the 5/2 leader in the Premier League Top Goalscorer market as he bids to become the third player to win it three times, after Alan Shearer and Thierry Henry.
West Brom fans will fear that their yo-yo days are far from behind them. This was comfortably the worst opening day result of their five Premier League campaigns to date, which isn’t a good omen considering three of the previous four ended in relegation.
Roberto Di Matteo’s side are 10/11 to make another instant return to the Championship, though Blackpool are still the 1/4 favourites despite their 4-0 victory at Wigan.
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