And so it begins...and it's much better than the World Cup!

Chelsea 6 - 0 West Bromwich Albion

Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 0 Manchester City

Aston Villa 3 - 0 West Ham

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 0 Everton

Bolton Wanderers 0 - 0 Fulham

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 - 1 Stoke City

Wigan 0 - 4 Blackpool

Sunderland 2 -2 Birmingham

All right, I did end up missing the first match of the EPL between Spurs and Man City, thanks to some really bad traffic thanks to the rains in Delhi, the bits I did manage to see very enough to leave me with a grin that would have made Cheshire cats jealous. I mean, 21 goals in eight matches, including a 0-0 draw between Spurs and Man City that was better than many matches riddled with goals - one cannot ask for more. While one did expect Chelsea to hand out a bit of thrashing (not as bad as six-nothing, though) to West Brom, it was newcomers' Blackpool's four-nil drubbing of Wigan that was the first result to make mine eyebrows rise (I have worked really hard on trying to make just one rise, like Sir Sean and Spock, but alas and alack!).

This was the first time Blackpool have been in the Premiership and considering that Wigan have been playing rather well in the past couple of seasons AND were at home, the result was a bit of a shocker to many. I mean, these guys got into the Premiership by the skin of their teeth (and a Brett Ormerod goal in a play off) so they might have been expected to play it safe and maybe go for a draw or even if they did nurse hopes of an away win, well, 1-0, 2-1, maybe even 2-0 might have been okay, but 4-0? Ahhh, no! Well, the Blackpool fellas clearly had other ideas. I have got my eyes on this lot. Meanwhile, Didier Drogba did not dive and act daft, preferring to slot home the first hattrick of the season. Chelsea were pretty good value for money for their 6-0 drubbing of West Brom, but I think greater challenges, await, most notably when they take on not Just Man U, but judging by yesterday's showing, Spurs, Villa, BlackBurn and Man City too.

My favourite moment, however, came in the second half of the match between Vill and West Ham. With Villa 3-0 up, the Villa players spend about two minutes just passing the ball around. It was not the Spanish type of tic-a-tac that we saw in South Africa, but quite fluent, crisp, one-touch passing that was frankly breathtaking. Yep, the Premier League is underway. And it looks as good as ever.

Liverpool, Arsenal and Man U in action later today. I can hardly wait.