It was our biggest opening day win in the top flight and Carlo Ancelotti was obviously pleased, especially with his three front men.

Frank Lampard found the net once, adding to a Florent Malouda brace, but it was a Didier Drogba hat-trick which stole the show and wiped away the cobwebs of a slow pre-season.

'Didier did a fantastic job,' praised the Italian, 'not just because he scored but he worked for the team very hard, as did [Nicolas] Anelka and Malouda. They all worked very hard defensively.

'That is the mentality of our strikers, they are working for the team and it was a good start, we wanted to win because we had a difficult pre-season.

'We played a good game, we showed good football, scored a lot of goals and there are a lot of good things to come from this game.

'We started the first half well, kept a high tempo on the pitch, but it wasn't our game until the second goal. Then it was easier for us because there was more space up front and we had a lot of possibility to score.'

It was a strong contrast to our pre-season fixtures, where we suffered from a lack of fitness in the side.

'We knew we had a problem [in pre-season],' added Ancelotti. 'We decided to give our players who played in the World Cup another six days of holiday.

'It was necessary for them to have a full recovery and we knew the first game of the pre-season we couldn't play them.

'Also [Petr] Cech, Alex, Drogba, [Michael] Essien, all had problems during pre-season but they are all very close to their best condition now.

'John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard also showed good condition today.

'Maybe they are still not in the best condition but they have time now to arrive in the best condition.

'Now the squad is complete. Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and John Terry can still improve their condition. In two weeks they will be 100 per cent.'

But despite the truly emphatic win, and a perfect start to the season as we ended the day top of the Barclays Premier League, the forever modest manager was keen to play down the result.

'We did our job, nothing special,' explained Ancelotti. 'This team can show this kind of play, can score a lot of goals and this is our job.'

Meanwhile, former Chelsea star Roberto Di Matteo's return to the Bridge was not a very ceremonious affair for the Blues legend.

'Playing the champions away for the first game of the season, you know it is going to be a tough game,' said Di Matteo, who scored three goals in three cup finals for Chelsea.

'There aren't many teams who come away winners from Stamford Bridge.

'You can see why they are champions; they are strong in every department. They are very good and it is very difficult to play against them.

'Now we have to learn very quickly and we have to improve very quickly as well. On the upside we won't be playing Chelsea every week!'

Finally, with the arrival of Ramires to the Chelsea ranks yesterday, Ancelotti revealed when fans can expect to see the Brazilian in a blue shirt.

'Ramires will train from the start of next week and he will be able to play the next game,' said Ancelotti.