This was one of those afternoons when, for Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel, any win would do. They duly got it despite a laboured performance and now that their extravagant transfer business has been completed they can feel justified in plugging the line that the season starts here.
The most slow-burning of affairs ended in near-chaos and with West Ham fuming at the disallowing of what seemed a perfectly good equaliser from Maxwel Cornet.
