Clinical Chelsea resume normal service

CHELSEA can go into Sunday’s crucial Premier League game against Arsenal confident their first wobble of the season is over after easing to a routine 2-0 victory over Marseille in the Champions League last night to stay top of Group F and banish the memory of last weekend’s defeat at Manchester City.

Chelsea’s lacklustre performance in a 1-0 reverse at Eastlands was their first real setback and the first time in the whole of 2010 they had failed to score in a match in any competition. But even without the suspended Didier Drogba and the injured Frank Lampard they were too good for Marseille at Stamford Bridge, indicating that disappointing trip to Manchester was nothing more than a minor blip in an otherwise impressive start to the campaign.

That is good news for manager Carlo Ancelotti because had his team slumped to a third defeat in a row (they also lost to Newcastle in the Carling Cup last week) then Sunday’s London derby would have looked daunting.