This new Premier League season is less than a week old, but already we have seen plenty to get excited about.
Before Wednesday night we had already seen a Goal of the Season contender, some costly goalkeeping errors, a pair of sound thrashings and a real ding dong of a game that almost saw the champions shocked by a newly-promoted side.
At Stamford Bridge last night, we got most of that all in one game. Not only that, but Chelsea's 4-2 win over Reading teased us for a long time with the prospect of the European champions being beaten in their first home game of the campaign and gave us the league season's first sighting of a goalkeeper coming up for a corner.
There are few better sights in football than seeing a goalie lumber up the field for a set piece at the death, sporting an expression which is an intriguing mix of urgency and trepidation.
From that late corner, Reading were the most exposed Royals since Prince Harry's last game of billiards, and Chelsea scored a fourth goal to add give a flattering touch to the scoreline to a match they had been losing 2-1 at half-time.
The win has put the Blues top of the Premier League table for the first time in almost two years, as is being gleefully reported by a variety of outlets. Never mind the fact that Chelsea have played twice as many games as everyone else (expect Reading), with their second game of the season played in midweek because of their European Super Cup clash against Atletico Madrid next Friday.
Nevertheless, in his past seven games in charge at the club Roberto Di Matteo has led his team to glory in the FA Cup and the Champions League as well as going top of the table, all without them being truly convincing.
All their good early work in the FA Cup final was almost undone simply by Kenny Dalglish setting Big Andy on them, while their Champions League triumph had as much to do with Bayern Munich being the most obliging of hosts as their own efforts.
Even their inexorable march to the top of the league this season has not been smooth. After going 2-0 up at Wigan within seven minutes of the kick-off, they let the Latics back into the game and the eventual victory was not quite as comfortable as the scoreline suggested. Fortunately for them, they had the presence of mind to plant double agent Franco di Santo at the DW Stadium two years ago, and were scheduled to play Wigan at a time in the season long before they actually begin trying in any case.
They followed up that win last night with another display that — despite their far superior stats in every department, was not cut and dry for a long time and needed a hefty slice of luck.
Pavel Pogrebnyak and Danny Guthrie overturned Frank Lampard's penalty to give the Royals the lead at the break, the latter courtesy of the sort of Petr Cech error which was once such a rarity but is now all too familiar.
Gary Cahill's 69th-minute strike from range gave Adam Federici the perfect opportunity to reciprocate, before Fernando Torres scored from what looked like an offside position with 10 minutes remaining. It was a slick passing move involving six Chelsea players, and any Torres goal in blue is one to be savoured as a collectors' item, but he looked to be just past the last defender when he tapped home Ashley Cole's low cross.
Still, those are the breaks you need when you make your way to the top of the league.
Eden Hazard has been the undoubted star of the show for the Blues so far. In his first two hours of Premier League football he has had a hand in five of Chelsea's six goals, claiming three assists and winning two converted penalties already.
But, the Belgian's creative menace aside, Chelsea have not exactly begun the season in the manner of a team that holds the European Cup and has spent more money than any other club in Britain over the summer.
Playing defensively and on the counter-attack against Barcelona and Bayern is one thing, but did Di Matteo really need to play Ryan Bertrand in midfield at Wigan following Ramires's late withdrawal?
Overhauling a team takes time, something Andre Villas-Boas was not given last season and Di Matteo has only been given an initial one-year contract as he embarks on the same mission now.
Di Matteo may well return from Monaco next weekend with yet another trophy to add to his haul, but no one should remain in any doubt that there is still a lot of work to do before Chelsea are truly back among the best teams in the country.
Still, if this is how are going while still a work in progress, imagine what they will be like once they are the finished article.
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