From the moment his two-goal salvo turned a deficit into victory on the opening day versus Hull, the signs were good that Didier Drogba could pick up where he left off the previous season when a drifting Chelsea career was set firmly back on course under Guus Hiddink.
The early season formation adopted by the Dutchman's successor, Carlo Ancelotti, allowed Drogba to play close to Nicolas Anelka, and he had previously expressed a preference for a strike partner. At Fulham in the second away game each set up the other for a goal in a 2-0 win.
Then at Stoke the tried and tested link up with Frank Lampard was in full working order as Drogba latched onto the midfielder's clever pass and sent a truly unstoppable left-footed drive into the far corner.
The striker was now locked into an incredibly consistent run of scoring. By Christmas he had found the net 18 times in 21 games with only seven blank matches among them.
At Wigan he scored his 100th Chelsea goal on his 225th appearance although it was also the season's first defeat. Drogba described it as the worst performance since he'd joined in 2004. He had a point.
His Champions League campaign began in a familiar fashion - with a suspension - but when he did kick-off in Europe, he looked to have turned around a match in Madrid with two goals until Atletico's Sergio Aguero struck for a second time on the night.
In late November our Number 11 was an accessory to what many marked down as the most deluded moment of the season - Arsene Wenger declaring 'Drogba didn't do much' following Chelsea's 3-0 defeat of Arsenal - our best result at their stadium since the previous visit there!
The Gunners' manager did commend the player's efficiency, which included opening the scoring, pressuring one of his defenders into an own goal and then rifling in a free-kick.
All was going well at the point and the team had a clear lead in the league table but there followed a December downturn in results before Drogba signed off for a month of international duty with a goal at home to Fulham.
Against the predictions of the doom merchants, Chelsea flourished in the absence of our Africans although the fixtures could have been tougher. Ivory Coast didn't flourish in Angola and it cost their manager his job.
On his early return to club duty at Hull, Drogba scored his third direct free-kick of the season but the result was a disappointing draw following five straight wins. The first murmured questions began. Did Carlo Ancelotti have a conundrum to think about? Does the team actually play better without their most potent attacker?
There was no doubting he was to be first on the team sheet for the next game - Arsenal at home - and he duly landed another double whammy on the north Londoners. The second goal was Drogba at his rampaging best and made it 12 goals in 12 games against Arsenal.
Results were up and down in February and March. Drogba went three games without scoring which was a close as he came to a barren spell in 2009/10. Anelka's goals following a healthy December and January, had dried up completely.
As Champions League ambition faded once again, Drogba was sent off near the end of defeat by Inter, maintaining his now nearly traditional ban for the start of the next Euro campaign. It was his one red card of the season.
Having scored two at Portsmouth a week later, Drogba was rested for a visit by Villa which Chelsea won 7-1. It was the game before a potentially season-defining match at Old Trafford, and in the days in between he suffered injury and missed some training.
Recovered sufficiently to make the journey, the manager decided to use his top scorer as a second-half substitute and reaped the reward. A good team performance throughout was capped by what proved to be a Drogba winner.
By now, and like so many previous seasons, back in the middle of a three-man attack, the lacklustre display at Spurs was happily a blip in the season's run-in.
The high-scoring victories (of which there were a few) had strangely been by achieved by a Drogba-less team line-up, but that was remedied when he was part of a 7-0 win over Stoke , even if he didn't make the score sheet that day.
A Steven Gerrard assist at Liverpool put Chelsea on the threshold of the league title and Drogba poised to snatch the Golden Boot out of the grasp of Wayne Rooney.
An historic 8-0 win and a second-half hat-trick was the way to do it, even if the first 45 minutes did contain a moment of anxiety about his personal tally for our centre-forward.
His winner in the FA Cup Final meant the season had a pair of Ivorian bookends - a Drogba goal at its start and at its finish.
Voted Player of the Year by the fans, Drogba's 37 goals is the second best total in Chelsea history and included strikes at Anfield, the Emirates and Old Trafford. He also notched his sixth goal in six Wembley finals and seventh in all cup finals - a club record.
Now aged 32 and with (if his broken arm allows) a World Cup campaign this summer, there will be people doubting Drogba has another season in him like the trophy and goal-laden one just past.
The early season formation adopted by the Dutchman's successor, Carlo Ancelotti, allowed Drogba to play close to Nicolas Anelka, and he had previously expressed a preference for a strike partner. At Fulham in the second away game each set up the other for a goal in a 2-0 win.
Then at Stoke the tried and tested link up with Frank Lampard was in full working order as Drogba latched onto the midfielder's clever pass and sent a truly unstoppable left-footed drive into the far corner.
The striker was now locked into an incredibly consistent run of scoring. By Christmas he had found the net 18 times in 21 games with only seven blank matches among them.
At Wigan he scored his 100th Chelsea goal on his 225th appearance although it was also the season's first defeat. Drogba described it as the worst performance since he'd joined in 2004. He had a point.
His Champions League campaign began in a familiar fashion - with a suspension - but when he did kick-off in Europe, he looked to have turned around a match in Madrid with two goals until Atletico's Sergio Aguero struck for a second time on the night.
In late November our Number 11 was an accessory to what many marked down as the most deluded moment of the season - Arsene Wenger declaring 'Drogba didn't do much' following Chelsea's 3-0 defeat of Arsenal - our best result at their stadium since the previous visit there!
The Gunners' manager did commend the player's efficiency, which included opening the scoring, pressuring one of his defenders into an own goal and then rifling in a free-kick.
All was going well at the point and the team had a clear lead in the league table but there followed a December downturn in results before Drogba signed off for a month of international duty with a goal at home to Fulham.
Against the predictions of the doom merchants, Chelsea flourished in the absence of our Africans although the fixtures could have been tougher. Ivory Coast didn't flourish in Angola and it cost their manager his job.
On his early return to club duty at Hull, Drogba scored his third direct free-kick of the season but the result was a disappointing draw following five straight wins. The first murmured questions began. Did Carlo Ancelotti have a conundrum to think about? Does the team actually play better without their most potent attacker?
There was no doubting he was to be first on the team sheet for the next game - Arsenal at home - and he duly landed another double whammy on the north Londoners. The second goal was Drogba at his rampaging best and made it 12 goals in 12 games against Arsenal.
Results were up and down in February and March. Drogba went three games without scoring which was a close as he came to a barren spell in 2009/10. Anelka's goals following a healthy December and January, had dried up completely.
As Champions League ambition faded once again, Drogba was sent off near the end of defeat by Inter, maintaining his now nearly traditional ban for the start of the next Euro campaign. It was his one red card of the season.
Having scored two at Portsmouth a week later, Drogba was rested for a visit by Villa which Chelsea won 7-1. It was the game before a potentially season-defining match at Old Trafford, and in the days in between he suffered injury and missed some training.
Recovered sufficiently to make the journey, the manager decided to use his top scorer as a second-half substitute and reaped the reward. A good team performance throughout was capped by what proved to be a Drogba winner.
By now, and like so many previous seasons, back in the middle of a three-man attack, the lacklustre display at Spurs was happily a blip in the season's run-in.
The high-scoring victories (of which there were a few) had strangely been by achieved by a Drogba-less team line-up, but that was remedied when he was part of a 7-0 win over Stoke , even if he didn't make the score sheet that day.
A Steven Gerrard assist at Liverpool put Chelsea on the threshold of the league title and Drogba poised to snatch the Golden Boot out of the grasp of Wayne Rooney.
An historic 8-0 win and a second-half hat-trick was the way to do it, even if the first 45 minutes did contain a moment of anxiety about his personal tally for our centre-forward.
His winner in the FA Cup Final meant the season had a pair of Ivorian bookends - a Drogba goal at its start and at its finish.
Voted Player of the Year by the fans, Drogba's 37 goals is the second best total in Chelsea history and included strikes at Anfield, the Emirates and Old Trafford. He also notched his sixth goal in six Wembley finals and seventh in all cup finals - a club record.
Now aged 32 and with (if his broken arm allows) a World Cup campaign this summer, there will be people doubting Drogba has another season in him like the trophy and goal-laden one just past.
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