Eden Hazard scores first goal for Chelsea in win over Newcastle

Chelsea's Eden Hazard (L) celebrates with team mate Fernando Torres after scoring against Newcastle United.

LONDON - Chelsea have used the Premier League's opening week to deliver their own statement of intent. A lavish summer transfer outlay had hinted at regeneration, the constant reminders of Munich in May a recognition of what this club have already achieved, but it is the perfect start played out to a swashbuckling style that has turned heads. The first few skirmishes suggest the team boasts the class to unseat the Manchester clubs.

A third successive win maintained the European champions' pristine opening, with this their most impressive performance to date, given that it was achieved against a Newcastle team whose own pedigree is now well established after last season's exploits. Alan Pardew's side had dazzled themselves when visiting south-west London back in the spring, the pair of goals conjured up by Papiss Cissé that night still seared on the memory. Yet the pizzazz this time around was all Chelsea's. Their collective is a blur of attacking intent at present but the whole setup feels revived by the tricks and flicks summoned by Eden Hazard and Juan Mata, and by the form such creativity is coaxing from Fernando Torres.