Chelsea ended their pre-season campaign in style, outclassing Werder Bremen to record a 4-2 victory in Germany.
Antonio Conte’s men were in search of a positive result, with their opening Premier League match against West Ham looming large on August 15.
And goals from Eden Hazard, Oscar – the Brazilian’s third in the space of a week – Diego Costa and Pedro did the job, although ex-Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro and substitute Lennart Thy did notch for the hosts.
In a match that saw N’Golo Kante make his inaugural start for his new club since joining from Leicester City, Hazard was also named in a Conte starting XI for the first time.
Bremen had already played seven friendly matches going into the game, but any superior match practice was not evident, as the visitors flew out of the blocks.
Hazard was allowed to find the bottom corner for Chelsea with merely seven minutes gone, after being gifted far too much space on the edge of the penalty area by Zlatko Junuzovic.
Two minutes later, Conte’s men found themselves two up, with Hazard again playing an important role. The Belgium winger drove down the left before finding Oscar in the box and he played a neat one-two with Diego Costa before stabbing in a low finish.
After striking the crossbar early on, Junuzovic atoned for his error by winning a penalty from Nemanja Matic on 32 minutes, with Pizarro slotting home an inch-perfect spot-kick to reduce the deficit.
But just before the break, Costa was slipped in behind enemy lines by Hazard, before keeping his cool to slot a neat finish across goal to restore Chelsea’s two-goal cushion.
Bremen’s Thy made an impact from the bench with a stunning strike from 25 yards on 65 minutes, Thibaut Courtois only able to offer a despairing dive.
Conte took no chances in immediately substituting captain John Terry after a late injury scare caused by a collision, before Pedro ensured it was all smiles again with a stoppage-time strike to seal the win.
And so Chelsea finish preseason with a 4-2 win.
- The starting lineup may have been very familiar (other than Kanté instead of Fàbregas, it was basically the 2014-15 league-winning lineup), but for the first time all preseason, Conte used almost all of his subs, including the backup goalkeeper!
- Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic completed the full 90. John Terry was withdrawn with a little over 10 minutes to go after getting clattered in the penalty area and getting a hip to the head/neck. Michael Hector came on for the captain.
- Ola Aina played a bit of left back today, but did not start. Cuadrado and Traoré (and third goalkeeper Blackman) were the only players to not see any action from the 23-man traveling squad.
- Positives: Oscar, Hazard, Kanté
- Negatives: Pedro (despite his goal), defense
- Conte says his favorite words are “fight” and “work” but it might actually be UP UP UP UP UP UP.
- Next up: the real deal, West Ham at the Bridge on Monday for the start of the Premier League.
Omnisport/ weain’tgotnohistory
