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It was, it has to be said, just like watching Brazil. Not because Luiz Felipe Scolari already has his Chelsea team playing with the joyous expression of the Canarinho, but because he has them set up in the modern way perfected by his countrymen. Scolari’s Chelsea play fast, overlapping full backs, a high, creative midfield line, and have, in John Obi Mikel, a holding midfield player who doubles as a centre half in the style of Gilberto Silva. It puts them quickly on the offensive, but always with the padlock secure at the back and Portsmouth found them unplayable. The scoreline flattered the visiting team, who did not look like scoring, but could have let in three more with better finishing, when Chelsea forwards were left one on one with David James, the England goalkeeper.

Fabio Capello, the watching England manager, will have taken away positive thoughts about Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, John Terry and Ashley Cole, less so Jermain Defoe, the Portsmouth striker, who barely got a kick. His partner, Peter Crouch, also did little to make the Italian rethink his decision to exclude him from the squad to play the Czech Republic on Wednesday.

What Scolari has succeeded in doing very quickly is blending the English core of his team with a continental intellect, so efficiently that it is scarcely possible to tell one from the other. José Bosingwa, the right back, got forward quickly, but so did Ashley Cole on the left. Deco played sublime passes that caused Portsmouth huge problems in the heart of midfield, but so did Michael Ballack and Lampard. The role of Mikel, who drops in as a third centre half when the backs operate as wingers, is a masterstroke and brought out the best from the Nigeria player. This was his finest game in a Chelsea shirt, and Michael Essien’s return to the first team cannot be regarded as a formality.

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Scolari airily dismissed the Brazilian connection, preferring to talk of the flair of his individuals, regardless of nationality. The aspect on which all agreed, though, was that this was the perfect start for Chelsea under the new manager. Asked whether it was a result that would have Manchester United, the champions, worried, Scolari did not take the bait. “No,” he said, “because we do not play them next. Wigan Athletic, maybe.” Steve Bruce’s team are up in six days’ time.

This was Chelsea’s most emphatic start to a season since victory by the same scoreline over Sunderland in 1999 and if Sir Alex Ferguson thinks that this Chelsea team are too old to win the title, then that side would have had him sending mocking deliveries of Sanatogen. It was the era when Chelsea were attracting world-class players, but not in their prime, and Marcel Desailly, Gianfranco Zola, Albert Ferrer and Didier Deschamps were in the starting lineup. By comparison, this Chelsea team are spring chickens and anyone who did not think they had the potential to be champions on the evidence of yesterday was not paying attention.

Chelsea were a goal up after 12 minutes and three clear by half-time. If the second half was quieter it was because Portsmouth were no contest and Scolari’s team sensibly conserved their energy for bigger challenges ahead. Between the 52nd and the 88th minutes, Chelsea did not have a clear-cut scoring chance, although Deco rewarded those who stayed to the end with a 25-yard shot from outside the right of the penalty area, which swerved so much in mid-air that James could only palm it into his own net. It was a fitting end to the game, though, confirmed by the admission from Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, that his team could not live with Chelsea. He did not sound angry, more resigned. His only consolation is that he will not be playing Chelsea every week. No, his next opponents are Manchester United.

Portsmouth were not helped by naive defending – at one time a headed clearance by Terry from inside the Chelsea half was allowed to loop over the heads of the opposition back line, leaving Joe Cole with only James to beat – but in the main it was Chelsea’s movement that won the game. The first goal was created by a first-time chip from Ballack, but it was the wit of Joe Cole, peeling off his marker and cutting inside, that finished it.

Chelsea’s second came from the flanks, with Bosingwa crossing deep and Deco playing the ball back into what was now a largely unguarded net, James having deserted his position, and Nicolas Anelka outjumping Glen Johnson on the line to score the first goal of his career at Stamford Bridge. It could have been more.

Joe Cole and Lampard combined to put Anelka through alone after 20 minutes, but his shot was saved, and a mistake by Sol Campbell left him in a similar position from Petr Cech’s goal kick, this time steering the ball wide.

The calamitous defending of a header by Terry that Joe Cole then missed out on was the final straw for Redknapp. “If you coach nine-year-olds the first thing you tell them is when a defender is about to head it forward, take a step back and give yourself a bit of space,” he said with a grimace. “Our lot are all standing there, thinking: ‘Are we going to win this? Oh, where’s it going now?’ ” He had a point, but the basic problem was one that could not be surmounted by any amount of coaching. There was not a player in his team who would have made the first XI at Chelsea.

The outcome moved beyond doubt in the 45th minute when Sylvain Distin handled a cross by Joe Cole, Lampard scoring from the penalty spot. James was booked for dissent, ignoring the FA’s new Respect agenda, with its instruction to get on with the game. Unfortunately, this would have been the least tempting option for Portsmouth. Nipping outside to a public telephone box and abandoning proceedings with a hoax bomb alert would have contained more appeal.

Chelsea ratings

(4-1-4-1) P Cech 7 J Bosingwa 8 R Carvalho 7 J Terry 8 A Cole 7 J O Mikel 8 M Ballack 7 Deco 7 F Lampard 8 J Cole 7 N Anelka 6. Substitutes: P Ferreira (for Bosingwa, 83), F Malouda (for Ballack, 37 6), S Wright-Phillips (for J Cole, 77) Not used H Hilario, F Di Santo, W Bridge, Alex. Next: Wigan (a)

Portsmouth ratings

(4-4-2) D James Y 5 G Johnson 5 S Campbell 5 S Distin 5 H Hreidarsson 5 P B Diop 5 L Diarra 5 Y Kaboul 5 N Kranjcar 5 P Crouch 5 J Defoe 5. Substitutes: A Mvuemba (for Diarra, 67min 5), J Thomas (for Kranjcar, 72). Not used J Ashdown, Lauren, J Utaka, M Cranie, D Traoré. Next: Manchester United (h)

Referee: M Dean. Attendance: 41,468.