The Premier League might as well order the blue and white ribbons now. Yes, Chelsea were just easing themselves gently into form. "We hope," Gianluca Vialli said, "the future will be even better."

Never mind that this was only Sunderland or that Chris Sutton's finishing made the offer of an England B place look generous. Chelsea were awesome. Championship material. At least one of the leading authorities outside Salford thought as much.

"They're all such good players," said Steve Bould, winner of three titles at Arsenal and a man used to conceding four goals a season rather than in one afternoon. "But (Didier) Deschamps is going to make the difference. He's the one that can turn them into championship winners."

Certainly Deschamps had an impressive debut. It was as if the old water carrier had been lugging buckets round the Bridge for years. His energy and eye for the uncomplicated contributed in no small way to a Chelsea performance described by Peter Reid as "exceptional . . . quality . . . different class". The Sunderland manager was probably impressed.

And not without good reason. Some of Chelsea's play was stunning, encapsulated by Gianfranco Zola's flick and Gus Poyet's flying volley for goal number four. Reid wondered whether he should have played five in midfield. A small Panzer division around the goalmouth and Chelsea would still have found a way through.

"The problem now is to keep our feet on the ground," said Vialli. Not for 17 months had his side won in the league by four clear goals and on that occasion, a 6-2 win over Crystal Palace, note the two conceded. There was little for Alan Hansen to moan about here.

Yet there are still worries for Chelsea fans as they dream of adding to that championship of 1955. Arguably only the absence of a 20-goal striker cost them the title last season and on this inconclusive evidence they have not found one in Chris Sutton. Twice he was put through, twice he missed. All very well against Sunderland at 2-0 up; potentially the difference between first and another third place against Manchester United or Arsenal.

"I probably won't get better chances than I did today," Sutton said. "I just wanted the ground to swallow me up. I know I can't miss chances like that in the tight games when it's really going to matter. I was lucky. We could have won by eight."

They probably should have done. Sutton's replacement, Tore Andre Flo, wasted chances either side of his goal. Zola has never been a 20-goal player. Do Chelsea have the ruthlessness for those matches when only two opportunities come their way?

With Poyet they do. The crunch will come when the midfielder is rested, suspended or suffers his annual knee injury. Zola describes the Uruguayan as "a player who can break the barrier" and he proved as much, heading in a corner by Wise, who complemented Deschamps in their little and little midfield show.

Zola added number two from a tight angle and Flo nodded in Dan Petrescu's cross before Poyet signed off in style. But of course the talk was of Sutton and what might have been.

"I have told him I judge strikers not by the number of goals they score but by the way they work for the team," Vialli said. "He came off at 3-0 and that means he was doing very well.

"He has to stay calm. Otherwise you go on the pitch thinking only about goals. You forget about the movements, the unselfish runs you have to make. When the opposition has the ball you don't want to chase. You want to stay fresh for when the opportunity comes to score."

Anyway, missing was apparently for the best. "It's too easy otherwise," Vialli said. "You score, you become a hero straight away. It's better if you work your socks off."

CHELSEA: De Goey, Ferrer, Desailly, Leboeuf, Le Saux, Petrescu (Di Matteo 86), Wise, Deschamps, Poyet (Babayaro 79), Sutton (Flo 73), Zola. Subs Not Used: Hogh, Hitchcock. Booked: Le Saux. Goals: Poyet 20, Zola 32, Flo 77, Poyet 78.

SUNDERLAND: Sorensen, Makin, Bould, Butler, Gray, Summerbee, Ball (Fredgaard 60), Rae, Lumsden (McCann 46), Quinn, Phillips. Subs Not Used: Helmer, Dichio, Marriott. Booked: Rae, Makin, Quinn.

Referee: M Riley (Leeds).