Football can be great fun. Tonight it was … and some. Roma were brilliant. Chelsea did well to score three while not seeing much of the ball. What a treat. And do watch that Dzeko goal. It’s one of the best you’ll see this season. These two play again in a fortnight. I can’t wait. Chelsea are still in a dominant position in the group. Thanks for your emails and tweets. Bye. We’ll have a match report up shortly.

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90+4 min: Peres darts down the right and drills a cross at the near post. Courtois spills it but Chelsea scramble it clear. Peep! Peep! Peep! “Having spied the otherwise token attire of Italian managers, Roma at least challenged the type by giving the job to Elvis Costello.” Ian Copestake gets in just after the final whistle.

90+3 min: Willian drops his right shoulder and shifts the ball past Kolarov before drilling a low cross to the near post where the impressive Jesus clears.

90+2 min: The pace has dropped. Are they settling for a draw?

90+1 min: Cahill, who looks like a half-arsed attempt by someone to dress up as a Mummy at halloween, heads over. Decent ball in by Fabregas though.

90 min: There’ll be four more minutes of this. That’s not enough. Chelsea win a free-kick 35 yards from goal and send everyone apart from Christensen forwards. They play it short and Nainggolan lunges at Willian and gives another free-kick away. This time on the right in dangerous position.

88 min: A long ball over the top heads towards Willian, who misjudges the flight of the ball when he has a great chance to control and get a shot on goal unmarked from the edge of the box. I think Kolarov may have flicked it back with his head and put Willian off.

87 min: Perotti, who has been a pesky menace all night, is replaced by the enigmatic El Shaarawy. Roma are not settling for a point.

86 min: Willian’s introduction and sparky energy has pushed Chelsea forwards. They’re in the ascendancy and are having their best spell of possession all game, which isn’t saying much. Morata tries to flick a header towards goal from the edge of the box but Fazio is in close attendance and clears.

85 min: “Hope you’re having a grand time watching the world grow older minute-by-minute. My question - if you had to get a neck tattoo what would it be? And, looking at the crazy yoofs making music these days (I’m talking in the US specifically) - how soon until we see a professional footballer (a good one) with a sh!t ton of face tats? Peas and carrots, my friend!” Tim Middleton may be drunk on this game. I know I am.

84 min: Willian has a burst forwards and Chelsea win a corner. It’s played short to Fabregas. He lifts the ball to the back post where Rudiger leaps and heads wide. This will end 4-3. I just don’t know who to.

83 min: Strootman is off and Florenzi is on. Strootman has had a fine game. Always composed in possession.

81 min: Roma play some delightfully zippy passes among their front line before working the ball out to Peres, overlapping on the right. He whips a cross into the near post where Dzeko is hanging in the air and primed to score his hat-trick. But he gets too much meat on his header and not enough glance. It’s wide by an inch. A bad miss. But we’ll let him off.

80 min: “Let Roma have the ball and even the play as long as we counter like this and create more chances. Nothing wrong with counterfootball, it is beautiful. As the best ever Bayern Munich under Heynckes 2012. Best football ever, possession football is way overrated and quite boring at times,” writes Chelsea’s tiki-taka-hating Swedish Fan Club, apparently.

79 min: Strootman tries a cute dink over the Chelsea back line but Alonso is alert to it and thumps the ball clear. Willian races on to the Stamford Bridge turf to replace Hazard, who gets a standing ovation. He looks cheesed off. He wanted a hat-trick.

77 min: Zappacosta is hooked after giving a corner away earlier. Rudiger replaces him. He slips into the back three with Azpilicueta moving up to right wing-back.

Like I said, Chelsea won’t get back into this. Pedro clips a ball into the box and Hazard heads powerfully, from 12 yards, into the bottom corner. He was unmarked but it was a brilliantly directed header. Did I say this was a good game of football? It’s wonderful fun.

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74 min: Gerson gets cramp and is replaced by Pellegrini. Cahill cut his chin and is sporting a bandage that makes it look like he’s broken his jaw.

73 min: Gary Cahill has clashed heads with someone. Chelsea are momentarily down to 10 men. I can’t see them getting back into this. Roma have been much the better side. Conte is looking at three defeats on the spin.

Chelsea must hate Manchester City. Kolarov whips a cross into Dzeko, who nods across Courtois into the far corner. It was too easy. Azpilicueta was three yards in front of him and Morata was two yards behind him (and watching him). What a match, though.

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69 min: Perotti leads Bakayoko on a merry dance and wins a free-kick.

68 min: Roma thoroughly deserve to be level. The worry for Chelsea is that they can’t hang on now. They’ve 23 minutes to go and they’ll have very little of the ball.

66 min: There were shades of Van Basten about that finish but I don’t want to get too carried away. It was just such a wonderful connection though. The angle wasn’t anywhere near that of Van Basten’s but still …

Bloody hell! What a finish this is. Incredible. Fazio, I think, wanders to the halfway line and lofts a diagonal ball to Dzeko, on the shoulder of Christensen. He watches the ball over his left shoulder and connects first time with his left foot, to slam the ball home emphatically, brilliantly.

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63 min: A Chelsea attack! Morata is sent racing through on the inside right channel but Becker is out on him like a flash. Great keeping.

61 min: Conte, never one to stand still when there’s dancing to be done on the touchline, is told to get back into his technical area by the referee. His lid is rattling watching this. No surprise. Chelsea are treating the ball like a stranger. Perotti has a pop from 18 yards out on the left. It’s curled into Courtois’s arms though.

58 min: Strootman guides a ball in towards Dzeko but he’s outnumbered and bullied off the ball by a couple of Chelsea defenders, one of whom was Christensen. Then Kolarov’s wand of a left foot digs a ball to the back post where Gerson heads over. He’d have needed an extendable neck or a step ladder to get above that.

56 min: David Luiz finds himself in space and wanders forwards, dribbling around Fazio and looking to slip in Zappacosta on his left, but he’s offside. He looks up and sees his number up. “Eff off!” is his general reaction to seeing he is to be withdrawn. Pedro is on in his stead. David Luiz goes straight down the tunnel. Is he injured? He doesn’t think so. Maybe Chelsea’s physios do.

54 min: Kolarov drills a ball across the Chelsea six-yard box. Dzeko’s foot is waiting to turn it home but Courtois stretches a toe out and turns the cross away from goal. Brilliant goalkeeping. He’s saved his team there.

53 min: Chelsea don’t look remotely interested in winning back possession. Tony Pulis would be proud to call this Chelsea display his own.

52 min: Gerson, who is making his Champions League debut and first Roma start this season tonight, cuts inside on to his left foot and drives over from 20 yards. It opened up for him there and he got excited. We’ll let him off. He’s young.

51 min: It’s a dreadful corner. Not even I can defend it. And I’ve tried. Believe me.

50 min: Roma are pop, pop, popping the ball around for fun. And then Gonalons belts it out of play. But within 10 seconds Roma are back in possession and force a corner.

47 min: Chelsea break and Zappacosta curls a lovely ball to the back post but Roma clear. He’s got a cultured left foot has Zappacosta. David Luiz hasn’t. He’s encouraged to “Shoooooooot!” by the crowd. Not one to disappoint, he hammers a shot into another post code.

46 min: Kolarov buys a corner. It’s cleared low by Morata and hammered back towards goal with the force of a dozen storms by Nainggolan. A collection of Chelsea shirts appear to block it.

45 min: Guess what? Roma are in possession. That must mean Chelsea are about to score.

“With nothing but a hunch to back it up, I’m going to say that this Chelsea 11 have to set a record for being the Premier League team with the most syllables,” writes Neil Ainsworth, who must be really bored despite the entertainment on offer. “Azpilicueta; Christensen; Bakayoko; Zappacosta; Morata; Fabregas; Alonso; Courtois; Luiz; Hazard; Cahill. That’s 32 syllables, or 2.9 a player. Plenty more to come off the bench too.” Readers? Anyone? Hello?

As sharp as Chelsea have been on the break, Conte really has to do something to wrestle control of the game from Roma. Their midfield is non-existent.

“As a Chelsea fan I’m starting to notice just how average the team can be without the intensity and fitness of last season. I think the fixture schedule will be their undoing this season,” writes Nas Iqbal. That’s the same for everyone Nas. Having Fabregas playing so often is never helpful though. He is Mr Burnout.

“I thought that in addition to obeying my instincts (?) to be obedient and say hello, I would tell you I’ve been watching Manchester United. The only game still 0-0. Damn,” writes Gerrard Catesby. Come on over Gerrard. Stay for the second half.

And relax. A brilliant half of football comes to an end. More please. I’ll be back shortly. Send me an email. Say hello.

45 min: Bakayoko has a shot blocked in the penalty area and then a second bite of it lands at Morata’s feet, but he’s offside. What a game this is. I need to take a breath.

44 min: Roma go close on the far post after a cross was drilled in from the left. And then Chelsea break and get a few numbers forwards. Roma, for what it’s worth get a few players back. Fabregas dinks a ball to the back post where Morata rises like a gymnast to control a ball with his outstretched toe before spinning in the box and going down after a tackle from Fazio. A replay suggests Morata was slipping before Fazio made contact, if he did make contact.

42 min: How Roma drew 0-0 with Atletico I’ll never know. They pretty much play with two defenders because Peres and Kolarov are barely in their own half.

Well, well, well. Kolarov pokes the ball past Zappacosta and runs past the defender and on to it like a zippy teen instead of the wily veteran he is. He takes one look at the goal and drills a left-footed shot from 15 yards that takes a deflection and winds up in the top of the goal. Roma deserve that.

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38 min: So maybe this is a masterclass in counterattacking football then.

What a weird game! Peres tries to be too clever by half on the right, looking for a killer pass in midfield and forgetting he’s a right-back. Chelsea pick off a loose pass and Morata is sent sprinting up the inside-left channel. His right-footed shot deflects up and loops to the back-post where Hazard half-volleys home from 10 yards. Football’s bonkers.

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35 min: Courtois shanks the ball into play after another devilish spell of Roma pressing. Roma boss the ball again.