Welcome to live coverage of Chelsea v Newcastle from Stamford Bridge. The teams are in and the surprise for Chelsea is the omission of Frank Lampard.

The veteran midfielder sits this one out, as does the injured John Terry, with Raul Meireles partnered by John Obi Mikel in the centre of the park.

Summer signing Marko Marin still has a thigh injury and does not feature.

Newcastle, meanwhile, are boosted by the fact that Fabricio Coloccini and Demba Ba have been passed fit, though Cheick Tiote is out with a calf problem.

Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole; Mikel, Meireles; Hazard, Mata, Bertrand; Torres.

Newcastle: Krul; Simpson, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Santon; Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Anita, Gutierrez; Ba, Cisse.

All the talk, even in the commentary on this game, is about the fact that Wayne Rooney will be out for around a month after suffering a gashed leg against Fulham. There are pictures everywhere on Twitter. We’ll spare you.

After a quiet opening, Newcastle give the ball away and Torres bears down on goal. He pulls it back to Mikel but he skies his effort.

Hazard shoots from the edge of the Newcastle penalty area but it wasn’t anything for Tim Krul to worry about.

Sven Goran Eriksson is in the stands, lurking, forever lurking… Meanwhile, a fine touch and control from Torres, who finds Bertrand, who finds the grasp of Tim Krul.

Penalty to Chelsea! A change of pace from Torres draws a rash challenge from Vurnon Anita. Hazard steps up – and scores! Chelsea 1-0 Newcastle.

Confidently done by the Belgian.

In his last 20 league games: Hazard has scored 14 goals, set up 13 and won seven penalties.

Raul Meireles is down and requiring treatment. It looks like he’s stretched his knee and Lampard is warming up. The Portuguese seems OK though.

Meanwhile…

Another interesting one…

Hazard is the first man, apart from Frank Lampard or Didier Drogba, to score for Chelsea from the penalty spot since Michael Ballack in 2008. Excluding penalty shootouts.

A smart header from the edge of the box by Ivanovic, who has already scored twice this season, but Krul saves well.

We haven’t seen much from Newcastle going forward yet, in that we haven’t really seen anything.

Fantastic play by Mata and Hazard, who link up before Mata tries to pull the ball back to Torres. Coloccini clears, and Mata should have taken the shot himself.

Hazard lashes the ball wide from distance…

We have the first booking of the game and it’s Fernando Torres, who is angered by Phil Dowd’s decision. Torres appeared to have been caught by the trailing foot of Coloccini but Dowd reckons there was no contact.

Better from Newcastle, coming up to half-time, and they have a free-kick after a foul on Gutierrez.

Cabaye goes across, Mikel clears, Chelsea break, Meireles is offside.

Papiss Cissé has his first chance of the game as he swivels and directs a shot straight at Petr Cech. The rain is teeming down.

Here’s Eden Hazard’s first Chelsea goal – bizarrely, it’s in back-to-front…

(Credit: FootballSeason12)

Goal! Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle. Torres.

The old Torres plays a one-two with Hazard before toe-poking the ball home delightfully with the outside of his right foot. That was lovely from the former Liverpool striker.

That’s half-time, and anyone who claimed Eden Hazard wasn’t all that before of the season can well and truly be silenced. The Belgian is a superstar and already has six assists and one goal in English football.

Fernando Torres’ goal was the highlight of the half, which was very one-sided.

Check this out from the official Tottenham Hotspur Twitter feed.

Somebody’s in for the longest of long weekends…

We’re back, and no substitutions at half-time.

We’re five minutes into the second half of the game, not much to report. A lot of Chelsea probing but they’re playing in front of the Newcastle defence.

Hatem Ben Arfa is trying to get into the game but finding no space, and it all just seems a bit tentative.

This could be the first Newcastle (half) chance we’ve noted, as Ben Arfa feigns to shoot with his right, switches to his favoured left, and lashes the ball just wide of Cech’s post.

Mikel strides forward and almost releases Torres, but the impressive Coloccini intervenes.

An effort from Ba, who draws a save down to his right from Cech.

Same here.

Great play from Ben Arfa, who harangues the Chelsea defence into giving away a corner. Great persistence from the Frenchman, who could conceivably have gone down there a couple of time.

Ryan Taylor replaces Danny Simpson for Newcastle.

Ramires is coming on for Chelsea to replace Juan Mata.

Papiss Cissé misses a free header from a Ryan Taylor delivery. The striker has not started his season yet, it seems.

A free-kick from David Luiz, just outside the Newcastle box, flies over the bar.

The very seldom seen Sylvain Marveaux – injured for most of last season – comes on to replace Davide Santon.

Thunder and lightning overhead, and it’s going to take quite a spark to ignite this game again. Wha’?!?

‘Perchinho’ – as they’re fond of calling the Newcastle defender – is on for Yohan Cabaye. Seems like a strange decision from Alan Pardew, given the fact that Newcastle are supposed to be chasing this suddenly scrappy game.

Ryan Bertrand advances on the Newcastle and his brilliant left-footed effort is turned away by Krul. Best moment in quite some time.

Great chance for Ba! Marveaux’s cross falls back into the path of Ba, who fails to get his first effort out of his feet but then unleashes a shot that Cech gets down well to save.

Frank Lampard comes on for Chelsea. Only three minutes remain in the match so it’s not much more than a cameo for the England midfielder.

Treatment for David Luiz’ head injury, who is bleeding. It was a great defensive header from the Brazilian but not without a price. There are four additional minutes held up.

Here’s Torres’ goal (for 2-0)…

As the rain just gets worse, the referee blows it up.

The second half failed to match the quality of the first but Chelsea are far removed from the functional teams of the past. Hazard and Mata, behind Torres, will be the envy of many teams over the season and the Belgian has already been a revelation.

That’s it from me, we’ll be back tomorrow for Stoke v Arsenal and Liverpool v Man City…