In a dominant 90 minutes on Saturday in which Burnley barely made it out of their own half in the first 45, Chelsea displayed machine-like passing and movement their new boss has been chasing since his arrival.
The modest scoreline was a travesty. On a day when Diego Costa had full control of his shooting boots, this could easily have been a rout.
But the 3-0 win – thanks to a resurgent Eden Hazard, a high-tempo Willian, and a late energetic cameo from Victor Moses – are positive returns at this stage of the team's development.
But more than anything, this was a showcase for the man who may prove to be the Premier League's best summer buy – N'Golo Kante.
Speaking on Match of the Day, Gary Lineker was clear Kante had been a huge contributor to Leicester's title win last season, and that he long believed whoever inherited his talents would be in with a real chance of succeeding the surprise champions.
On the ground, in the air, and on all parts of the pitch, Kante's job was to retrieve opposition and loose balls, and turn these into attacking situations.
Time and again we saw him intercept, shield, steal and disrupt Burnley's efforts moving forward and turn these to Chelsea's advantage.
His on the ball work was mostly short bursts, short passes, often picking up a deflection, or leaping into a gap where he anticipated the ball to be.
But his off the ball movement was peerless as he covered immense distances, watched the flow and read almost exactly where he should be.
On occasions, that meant him being furthest withdrawn – with only Thibaut Courtois standing between him and the Blues' goal line.
At other times, he sent chipped deliveries into the opposition box from the 18-yard line.
The job is rarely a glamorous one, and has often been misunderstood: particularly by those striving for some mythical ideal of the game.
As Claude Mekelele, the man who has forever given the role his name, makes clear: “This is a job without much recognition. You must enjoy running, you must love to be available, you must be at the disposal of your teammates.
Watch it here.
“That is the most difficult thing to achieve: we are talking abut two or three touches, maximum. You don't keep the ball much. You must be able to break-up the game.”
The win must be counterbalanced to the quality of opposition, and Burnley are already being spoken of as strugglers.
The real test will be whether Kante is able to close-down Sergio Aguero or Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the same calm, assured way.
But this was a true Makelele masterclass from Kante in incredibly hot and humid conditions.
There were more key moments than space to mention, but a notable one late in the game came when he completely closed-down an incursion into the box by the fresh legs of sub Johann Berg Gudmundsson: beating Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic to it from a standing start.
There were some interesting notes in the margins post-match: Conte seeming to indicate Juan Cuadrado, present though not in the matchday squad, may have a Chelsea future; and Sean Dyche all-but confirming Patrick Bamford's loan move to Burnley.
But the main headlines were written by Kante.
If he can maintain this form throughout, Chelsea will surely be contenders come next May.
