Chelsea kickstart campaign after Reece James seals crushing win against Milan

Chelsea’s Champions League campaign has its ignition point and so does the managerial tenure of Graham Potter. It feels strange to think that this was only his third match in charge of the club following his appointment on 8 September, the first having been the 1-1 draw here against Salzburg.

That had been a strange jumble of emotions in the wake of the loss at Dinamo Zagreb and Thomas Tuchel’s sacking. But with Chelsea desperately needing a victory in the competition, everything came together, the blue shirts pouring forward from all angles; Milan chased out of west London, fortunate not to have taken a serious beating.

As it was, it still felt chastening. Apart from the eye-catching Rafael Leão, Milan offered nothing and they were heading for defeat when Wesley Fofana opening the scoring following a poorly defended corner midway through the first half.

Potter has had to feel his way into the role on the training ground but he could delight at how his players mapped the moves from Cobham on to the big stage. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added the second and it was a night when pretty much everybody impressed although it was Reece James – as so often – who was the dominant figure. It was fitting that he scored the third, slammed high into the near corner after a Raheem Sterling assist.

Chelsea’s last-gasp Premier League win at Crystal Palace on Saturday had been a tonic. Now there was the demand to build a little momentum, to get at a Milan defence which had been stripped of the No 1 goalkeeper, Mike Maignan, and three of the regular back four – Davide Calabria, Simon Kjær and Theo Hernández.

Do not obsess about formations. They are different in and out of possession. Flexibility is the name of the game. But, at the same