19.48 – KICK OFF: Chelsea get the ball rolling and they attack from the first whistle again. Juan Mata finds some space in the final third and threads a ball through for Edin Hazard, the Belgian wastes no time in pulling the trigger with his left. But the shot zooms low and right of the far post.

19.53 – A glorious sixth minute opening for Chelsea as they split the Royals’ defence. Ramires drew two defenders as he dribbled to the right edge of the area, he cut back and attempted a left foot shot.

But Fernando Torres was left screaming, the Spaniard was unmarked eight yards from goal.

Could be a long old night for Reading.

20.00 – 12 mins: Brian McDermott managed to briefly calm the game down as yellow jerseys streamed back to defend. But they need a sliding tackle from Gorkss to prevent a terrific Torres solo effort.

Pavel Pogrebnyak is the sole danger-man for the visitors, he has gone close from distance.

Good game, great tempo.

20.23 – 37 mins. I don’t want to be hasty or jinx it, but this is by far, the best game of the season so far. Every attack seems to bring a chance.

The latest came after Karacan ran down hazard on the left wing. The free-kick found a Chelsea player rising high to head the ball, but it was Juan Mata – of all people.

The ball shot off his head at a 45 degree angle and over the bar.

20.52 – Both strikers have been marvellous thus far. Torres particularly, his movement and interplay with Mata and Hazard is a non-stop headache, and that’s not just my hangover talking.

At the beginning of the second period here he has ran the right-hand channel and pulled back to create a shot. It was Ivanovic this time, searching for his second goal in as many games, but he blazed over.

21.10 – They’ve suddenly cranked up the pressure. More superb work from Torres in the channels leads to an opening for Hazard on the edge of the area. Blocked.

Daniel Sturridge is putting his shin pads on as Torres tries to engineer another penalty by chipping the ball at Karacan’s hand.

21.34 – With Gary Cahill taking some treatment, we’ll have five minutes of injury time. The stadium sounds like many home fans are trying to beat the traffic. Job done, they think.

21.37 – GOAL: Chelsea 4 -2 Reading (Ivanovic ’95)

That Harte free-kick I mentioned? He drilled it and it went behind for a corner. Up came Federici and narrowly missed contact with the set-piece but Chelsea cleared after the follow-up cross was pumped his way.

Torres broke clear at the edge of the box and unleashed hazard down the right. Chelsea had three attackers to Reading’s lone defender protecting the goal-line. hazard selflessly chose not to take the goal himself, squaring to Branislav Ivanovic.

Anyone want odds on him being top scorer this season, amazing engine to be in that position at the end of the game.

21.46 – And that’s that folks. Sky and ESPN executives must be kicking themselves for not taking this game on live. We’ll do well to see better between a promoted side and a title-contender.

I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I did watching it, but I doubt it.

We’ll leave you with this thought on the season’s star so far. The little devil.