But this performance should still be put into reasonable context because this opponent was so far inferior that Chelsea had to win this game no matter what. They would really have had no excuses whatsoever if they didn't win this game and you know, it still took them 58 minutes to score the first goal. I didn't really expect failure from them because they were keeping up the pressure during the game, but they lack this deadliness in the box of their opponent. They don't have this one amazing striker. It is still a waiting game for them and in this case it ended in a good way for them.
Yes, even if they are a team like a few seasons ago, which is still owned by Roman Abramovich, it is very possible that those who will be deployed to play will be more dominated by second-tier players, but this time it seems that the main players dominate the Chelsea squad so that the victory over Preston is natural, it will even be unnatural if they lose or can only draw, because maybe there will be fired by Chelsea owners because they have not been able to make the expected changes to bring this team back to being better.
Some strong teams managed to win like Newcastle and Brighton for Brighton they got quite a tight resistance, and the most anticipated match today is Arsenal vs Liverpool as Arsenal's home team is favored to win but Liverpool is a team that always gives difficulties to their opponents so Arsenal must not let their guard down in this match.
I am not a fan or something of Roman Abramovich, but it seemed as if he had at least some idea about football. They didn't buy dozens of players that didn't fit well into the team. They had transfer fails of course like every team has that, but the way Chelsea is now failing in doing their transfer business is alarming. Since the ownership changed, decisions about players and coaches have been bad and it is getting worse. Chelsea has had so much time and money to improve their situation, but they didn't.