BPL 2014: Day 1 - Chelsea 2 Hull City 0

After all the hoopla about Jose Mourinho returning to Chelsea, it was time to get down to business at Stamford Bridge when Chelsea welcomed Hull City for their first match of the new Barclays Premier League Season 2013/2014. Jose received a very heart-warming welcome from the fans in the stadium for his fifth season as a Chelsea manager after a gap of nearly 6 years. Jose is and will always be a respected figure at Stamford Bridge for all his contributions to the Chelsea team over the years. After signing for Chelsea, Jose had already made his feelings clear about his return by indicating that he is at the place where he belongs.

Chelsea have managed to bring in new talents in the lights of Andre Schurrle, Kevin De Bruyne and Marco van Ginkel to further strengthen the midfield. Chelsea are still in pursuit of a striker to fill in the gap left by under-performing Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and inexperienced Romelu Lukaku. Wayne Rooney and Samuel Eto'o are currently being chased by Chelsea officials to fill in this gap.

Jose Mourinho started the team with a 4-2-3-1 arrangement with Branislav Ivanovic, John Terry, Gary Cahill and Ashley Cole in defence; Ramires and Frank Lampard as Holding Midfielders; Eden Hazard, Oscar and Kevin De Bruyne as Attacking Midfielders and Fernando Torres as a Forward. Jose left out Juan Mata on the bench because of his fitness concerns.

Chelsea had an early opportunity to lead when they were handed a penalty thanks to Hull keeper Allan McGregor's foul on Fernando Torres. The keeper managed to compensate for his foul be saving Frank Lampard's attempt to goal from this penalty. However he was not so lucky second time around, when a superb through pass by Kevin De Bruyne was capitalised by Oscar by tapping the ball into the goal. Frank Lampard came on to the score sheet with a thunder-bolt of a free-kick from 30 yards to take Chelsea up by 2 goals. Hull City did manage to put pressure on Chelsea in the second half but Chelsea managed to sustain this and finished the game 2-0. Andre Schurrle, Marco van Ginkel and Romelu Lukaku were given a chance to play as substitues in the second half.

 Jose Mourinho managed to maintain his clean home record at Stamford Bridge with this opening day win. He emphasized that he had seen the best Chelsea team in the first half and insisted that there was more to come. Chelsea will face tougher opponents (Aston Villa) in their next match on 21st August 2013 at home. Although it is too early to predict the contenders of the Premier League this season, Chelsea definitely have bright chances this year owing to the talent in the team and the right manager to harness this talent for the team.

Article Sources:
1. http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/matches/2013-2014/epl.match-report.html/chelsea-vs-hull
2. http://www.chelseafc.com/chelsea-article/article/3365344
3. http://www.chelseafc.com/chelsea-article/article/3365433

Image Sources:
1. http://bluechampions.com/2013/08/14/chelsea-vs-hull-city-preview-predictions/
2. http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/chelsea/result/result-chelsea-stroll-past-hull_99323.html