As the players warmed up Wisey was clearly visible and greeted by cheers every time he drew near to any stands. Then, after the players filed off it was time for Ken Bates to present him with some silver thing (I couldn't see what it was from that distance) and the noise from the crowd (especially the Matthew Harding) was unbelievable. Forty thousand people on their feet, clapping and singing "Oh Dennis Wise scored a fucking great goal.............." makes an impressive noise I can tell you. Batesy made a quick speech after he managed, at the second or third attempt, to get the MH to stop chanting, and then presented Dennis with a giant red card as well......amazingly, he managed not to get a real one in the game that followed, not even a yellow.......All in all, it was a terrific reception for Dennis and one thoroughly deserved - I was still at school when Chelsea signed this man and he is a Chelsea legend par excellence - our most successful captain ever to date and sorely missed at the Bridge.

The game began with vigour, and it was clear from the outset that a repeat of last season's result was pretty bloody unlikely. Leicester were on the back foot from the word go and it was obvious that they (especially talentless mutant Lily Savage) intended to rely as much on dodgy challenges as football skills for their damage limitation. Hasselbaink, Zenden and Gudjohnsen were making a terrific job of keeping the Leicester keeper busy and making their defence look like idiots, and it wasn't long before a rattled Leicester player brought down Gudjohnsen for a penalty.

Hasselbaink's spot kick wasn't the best he's ever done and the keeper got a hand to it, but such was the power behind it that it still found its way into the top of the net. Chelsea happily decided not to repeat their Newcastle/Boro/Fulham-game antics of sitting back on a one goal lead and seemed if anything more fired up. Leicester on the other hand looked toothless, incapable of getting the ball up to their forwards and foundering in the midfield.

Chelsea chances continued for the rest of the half until Gudjohnsen took a pass from Zola and twisted round two Leicester defenders before slotting home. With the likes of him and JFH backed up by Zenden, Lampard and Petit, I think we can look forward to plenty more Chelsea goals this season as the Ranieri model Chelsea starts to gel.

The second half was much the same, Leicester having a couple of half-hearted runs on the Chelsea goal but really Cudicini had very little to do all day. All in all I'd say that Wise was the only decent player Leicester had, but Petit and Zenden contained him fairly comfortably and he had no-one to back him up. Chelsea reject Muzzy Izzet tried to get through our defence (accompanied by hoots and whistles from the Chelsea fans) but to no avail.

I have to mention that the Leicester support was rubbish - I would personally have said that now would be the time for them to get behind their team and cheer them on as much as possible (and memories of this time last year when Chelsea were 17th in the table spring to mind all too clearly). Instead they limited themselves to the occasional feeble "Come on Leicester" which was so pathetic that the Matthew Harding couldn't even be bothered to drown it out. Hopeless.

Gudjohnsen and Zenden came off for Melchiot and Forssell as the last twenty minutes or so deteriorated into essentially a training exercise for Chelsea. There were still a couple more chances and you couldn't help feeling that we could easily have come away with four or five goals if the players had really wanted to, but at the end of the day three points is three points. The only remaining highlight was an emotional send-off for Wisey from both players and fans after the whistle. Our first home win of the season and our unbeaten record so far remains. Good to see we're back above Liverpool (as we should be), but what the f*** are a two-bob side like Villa doing in fourth place?

What do YOU think ? Want to add your point of view ? Here's your chance to send me some feedback. NB: Opposing fans: abuse will be laughed at and then binned, so don't waste your time. Considered, intelligent argument, presented in the spirit of friendly rivalry guarantees a response.