Champions Beat the Cup Winners

I have always been the first to criticise big Dids for some of his performances last season, but I have to say that he battered the young pretender to Tony Adams' defensive crown, Swiss International, Phillip Senderos all round the park with his gangly style of leading the front line. Senderos could hardly get a look in and hardly won a challenge all afternoon. No doubt Senderos breathed a sigh of relief when big Dids was substituted. Not so long after Senderos himself was substituted.

It didn't take long for Drogba to open his account and set up an intriguing problem for JM on who to select as the front man for the game against Wigan next week. Reacting to a fine long ball from Del Horno, Dids beat Senderos to the ball, chested it down and hit a sweet half volley past the despairing dive of Lehmann in the Arsenal goal. Even sweeter was that the goal was scored at the end where the Arsenal fans were housed.

Chelsea's only real moment of anxiety in the first half was when Claude Makelele lost out in a tackle to Toure who fed the ball to Henry then dashed fully 40 yards to receive the return pass, before firing in a shot that had Cech diving at full length to his left to tip the ball round the post.

Once the second half kicked off it only took Dids twelve minutes to show how hungry he is and to remind those critics that he is the player his transfer fee warrants when he fed of a deflection from Gudjohnsen's head, beat off the challenge of two Arsenal defenders, after slipping took the ball away from Lehmann, won a crunching tackle with Cole before turning and firing a high left foot shot into the net to make the score 2-0. The stats will show that at this point Chelsea had two shots on target and scored two goals.

Chelsea could only manage one other shot on target when Super Frank hit a 25 yarder that had Lehmann in all sorts of trouble before Lehmann punched out and only his direction stopped the ball reaching the foot of substitute Joey Cole.

Seven minutes after Chelsea's second Fabregas scored Arsenal's consolation after a cross from the Chelsea left, eluded everybody until Fabregas slid in and turned the ball past an unprotected Cech.

Although this was the curtain raiser to the Premiership friendly and the pundits say it has no bearing on the Premiership, although 8 of the last 10 Shield winners have not won the title in the following season, I believe this result will give Chelsea the slight edge over Arsenal when the two teams meet again in two weeks at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea:

Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Gallas, Del Horno, Makelele, Lampard, Gudjohnsen, Duff, Drogba, Robben

Subs: Cudicini, Carvalho, Cole, Crespo, Geremi, Wright-Phillips, Tiago

Arsenal:

Lehmann, Lauren, Senderos, Toure, Cole, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Flamini, Bergkamp, Piries, Henry

Subs: Howard, Reyes, Van Perise, Hleb, Cygan, Silva, Hoyte