If the mission was to make Stamford Bridge the fortress it had been for the past four and a half years before Liverpool barged down the gates last week then a 5-0 hammering of Sunderland was a splendid start.
A short-range effort from Brazilian defender Alex notched up the 1,000th Chelsea goal in the Premier League.
A Frank Lampard header gave the Chelsea midfielder the 100th league goal of his career.
And a Nicolas Anelka hat-trick completed a rout which had the home jokers chanting sarcastically "Boring, boring Chelsea.''
In truth Chelsea hardly required a fortress to repel a Sunderland side who all but waved a white flag in the teeming rain which drenched Stamford Bridge.
The Wearsiders, dismal in defeat against Stoke in midweek, were as woeful as Chelsea's passing and movement was wonderful.
So woeful that manager Roy Keane was sent to the stands by referee Martin Atkinson as his frustration boiled over in the half-time tunnel when he verbally remonstrated with the officials.
Before the match Keane had warned it takes at least four days for him to recover his karma when he loses his temper. After this performance it might take him until Christmas.
Keane had made five changes to the starting line-up, dropping Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf to the bench and handing striker Kenwyne Jones his first start of the season after recovering from the knee injury which had kept him out for four months.
But not one Sunderland player would have passed the exacting Keane contribution test on an afternoon when the Chelsea fans taunted them with chants of `Cheerio.'
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