Guangzhou 0 - Chelsea 4

Chelsea kicked off their pre-season with a fine 4-0 win over a strong Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals side in China this afternoon.

In a very open game, TBO basically played all 22 in his squad, with keepers Cech and Carlo playing a half each. Cech made one notable excellent stop at the end of the first half to be replaced by our likeable Italian, who did not have much to do in truth.

The opening stages were open, with GP allowing us a lot of room on the ball to play our game. Bosingwa looked incredibly quick and assured down the right, with Ash playing a much more advanced role opposite him than we've seen previously. Perhaps a sign of things to come - who knows? Deco was excellent in the first half, with him instrumental in all that Chelsea were doing. The energy levels on the little guy are phenomenal, that is for sure. Chelsea's first goal came through Solomon Kalou, whose direct running and raw pace caused problems for the Chinese all the time he was on the pitch. Occasionally guilty of some poor decision-making, he made amends with a well-worked goal in the first half. Lampard endured a rather anonymous game with some poor passing and the notable absence of his trademark grin, but still scored a wonderous chip after initially being foiled by the GP keeper. 2-0 Chelsea and all looked fine.

The third came from debutant Franco Di Santo who ended a fine Malouda move with a clinical finish and our fourth came late on with a great strike from Shaun Wright-Phillips. Also making his debut was Bran Ivanovic who looked compact, tidy and excellent on the ball.

In all a fine win, but let us not get too carried away - first game of pre-season and there is much to be done. Positives were Deco's apparently seamless integration into a role at the tip of our diamond, and the absolute quality of Bosingwa, who looked the absolute business. Also to be singled out for praise is Wayne Bridge who looked absolutely brilliant when he came on for Ashley Cole and was unlucky to hit the woodwork with a long-range effort that the GP keeper was nowhere near.

You thoughts below please!