Chelsea outclassed Watford 4-1 at Vicarage last night in a match which was pushed off centre stage by Roman Abramovich's continued spending.
Most of the drama of the evening was taking place back at Stamford Bridge, with West Ham midfielder Joe Cole in talks over personal terms after the clubs agreed a £6.6 million sterling transfer fee and Juan Sebastian Veron on the verge of a £15 million move, which was confirmed this morning.
A decent 18,629 crowd at Vicarage Road saw Abramovich's first four signings - Glen Johnson, Geremi, Wayne Bridge and Irishman Damien Duff- all feature as Chelsea produced a confident performance in their final pre-season friendly.
It was no surprise when the Premiership side went 1-0 up with 11 minutes on the clock. Bridge dinked a ball into Forssell who, after somewhat fortunate control, fired into the bottom corner from 16 yards.
Chelsea doubled their lead with 16 minutes gone. Gronkjaer surged past Paul Robinson, the Watford man chopped the Blues winger down for a penalty and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink stroked home from the spot.
Number three came seven minutes later through unlucky Hornets defender Neil Ardley. Then Ray Lewington's men surprisingly reduced the deficit to 3-1 just after the half-hour when Heidar Helguson nodded home Ardley's cross.
Duff restored the visitors' three-goal cushion as the hour mark neared, tucking home Chamberlain's parry from Eidur Gudjohnsen's shot.