And now for The Special One

THE return of one Chelsea legend was immediately overshadowed by the imminent arrival of another and there was little doubt which homecoming dominated thoughts at Stamford Bridge.

As warmly regarded as Gianfranco Zola is in this part of west London, the visit of his struggling West Ham side provided little more than a warm-up, a relatively minor obstacle that needed to be negotiated before concentration could be fully focused on tomorrow’s Champions League meeting with Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan.

West Ham were therefore duly dispatched with the minimum of fuss and Chelsea restored, temporarily, to the head of the Premier League table, clearing the decks before the club’s biggest game of the season.