No Premier League champions of recent vintages have endured such an indifferent warm-up to the new season

To any Italian football man, there is nothing quite so beautiful as the result and so when Carlo Ancelotti called upon his Chelsea players to give a “reaction” to their defeat in Hamburg last Wednesday, it was quite clear what his priority here at Wembley would be.

Pre-season victories might lack the hard currency of Premier League points but there can be no doubting their capacity to pep spirits ahead of the real business. There was a rousing finale in this surprisingly entertaining Community Shield for Ancelotti’s team, sparked by the substitute Danny Sturridge’s direct running and willingness to have a go, but when the dust had settled, the defending champions were forced to digest a fourth successive defeat.

Before Hamburg, it had been Eintracht Frankfurt and before that it was Ajax. Their only pre-season win came at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace and that is