From Emmanuel Oguike, Abuja
European champions Chelsea got their season up and running as they hammered Crystal Palace 3-0 to make known their intention of winning the Premier League to the rest of the teams who are fighting for the most sought after trophy in English football.
The game came to life In the 27th minute when Mason Mount was fouled outside the penalty area and up stepped Marcos Alonso to convert a beautiful well-placed free-kick that left the Crystal Palace goalkeeper in a static motion as he could not do anything but watch the ball fly into the top corner of the net.
As the game progressed the European champions grew in confidence and did not waste time in adding more pain in the 40th minute, through a Christian Pulisic goal which killed the hopes of the Crystal Palace team struggling to create chances to break the resilient Chelsea team who are hungry for success with their German-born coach Thomas Tuchel.
A third goal came in the 58th minute through new boy Trevor Chalobah, the younger brother of Nathaniel Chalobah, as the young chap was making his senior debut for his team and with that the game was won by the blue side, which saw out the rest of game, coming out victorious at the end.