Chelsea set about their assault on the Champions League just as they have started their Premier League defence with a 4-1 victory at MSK Zilina in Group F.

The Londoners, who have won their first four league games and scored 17 goals in the process, cruised to a 3-0 halftime lead with two goals by Nicolas Anelka and one for Michael Essien.

When Daniel Sturridge added the fourth three minutes after the restart, a real thrashing looked on the cards, but the Slovakian outsiders dug in and pulled one back through Tomas Oravec.

Chelsea were untroubled after that and will be delighted to have negotiated their first hurdle so comfortably as they seek the elusive Champions League title having reached the semi-finals four times in the last six years.

Even though Oravec's goal was the result of Petr Cech failing to catch a cross, manager Carlo Ancelotti was more than happy with his team's efforts.

"Every game in the Champions League is hard to play," said Ancelotti. "We started very well in the first half, we played fantastic football."