Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge (right) takes on Jhon Kennedy Hurtado of Seattle.
In his first game in charge of the club, Carlo Ancelotti selected an almost full-strength starting XI, with Deco curiously being deployed as a holding midfielder.

John Terry, strongly linked with a move to Manchester City for the past two weeks, was given parity with Alex at the heart of the defence, while Daniel Sturridge played alongside Nicolas Anelka up front.

And it would be Sturridge, the club's only debutant in action, who broke the deadlock, when he found the net on 11 minutes with a low effort after being played in by Deco.

The Portugal international was, in fact, one of Chelsea's most inspired players, having created chances on goal on a number of occasions from his holding position, sending Ancelotti a clear message that he is ready for the Premier League challenge.

In the 35th minute, Chelsea doubled their lead as Sturridge's reverse pass found Anelka, who served Frank Lampard with a cut-back for the midfielder's close-range finish.

At the interval, Ancelotti made a total of nine changes to the team, keeping just Lampard and Michael Ballack from his starting line-up.

Chelsea came close to adding a third on 56 minutes but Franco Di Santo's close-range effort was denied by Seattle goalkeeper Terry Boss' reflex save.

Hilario, who had come on for Petr Cech, was not having a good day and Seattle almost scored in the 73rd minute, when Sanna Nyass attempted to send the ball over the Portuguese keeper but his effort went narrowly over the bar.

It was a good first test for Ancelotti, who was certaintly impressed by the contribution of Deco in a position he is not familiar with. Sturridge and Di Santo proved they are ready to challenge for a place in the Blues' attack.