Drogba delight at first goal

Didier Drogba expressed his satisfaction after opening his Chelsea account.

The Ivory Coast hit-man notched his first Blues goal with a thumping first half header from a Celestine Babyaro cross.

The former Marseille star did not endure such a satisfactory end to the night after being forced off the pitch following a cruching tackle from Palace's Mark Hudson, but spoke of his delight at the goal.

"It was important for the team because we came here and we wanted to win, so it was important for us to score first, and also my first goal in The Premiership so I am very happy," he told Sky Sports.

Asked whether he was bothered by criticism in some quarters for his failure to score in his opening two games, he continued: "It's not a problem, people can speak, I am here to play and I feel good in the team and that is the most important thing for me.

"Some people can say we play defensively and win defensively, but I think it's like this when a team is growing up and we try to play better day after day and match after match.

"I hope we will be in the top places at the end of the championship."

Joe Cole, who had an impressive night after starting his first game of the season, echoed Drogba's sentiments, insisting Jose Mourinho's team were improving with each passing week.

"I felt we were comfortable throughout the game and we passed the ball better at times and we just looked comfortable. It was a good performance," Cole stated.

"Three points, we haven't conceded a goal and the team is gelling well. We looked like, judging by tonight's game, we're on an upward curve.

"We like to keep the ball, we like to pass the ball and in the first two games we didn't do that as well as we had in pre-season.

"But today I thought we did it well, especially later in the game and there were some good spells we had. But we've got great defenders and so we're not going to concede many goals."