Victor Moses and Nigeria-born England left-back Ola Aina were
impressive for Chelsea in their 3-0 pre-season friendly win against WAC
RZ Pellets in Klagenfurt, Austria on Wednesday.
The Blues recorded their first win under Antonio Conte with goals
from Bertrand Traore and substitutes Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathaniel
Chalobah. Bertrand Traore and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were on target and
there was further positivity with the head coach able to hand Michy
Batshuayi his first action in a Chelsea shirt while providing the
majority of his squad with valuable game time.
Conte opted to make three changes to the side which started
Saturday’s game against Rapid Vienna, one of which saw Ola Aina, who
performed well as a second-half substitute at the weekend, come in for
Baba Rahman at left-back. Oscar and Traore were also handed their first
starts of pre-season, with John Mikel Obi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek making
way . Those players who only joined up with the squad yesterday weren’t
involved at all.
Moses did brilliantly out on the left, driving at the WAC defence
with a powerful run before switching it inside to Diego Costa. The
striker, on the run, lost out, but when the ball was worked back outside
to Willian his cross was forced over the line by Traore. A couple of
decent crosses by wide men Willian and Victor Moses in the opening
couple of minutes caused panic in the WAC defence as the Blues started
the game on the front foot, while Diego Costa was unlucky not to connect
with a teasing Branislav Ivanovic delivery.
Chelsea was moving the ball well and should have taken the lead after
13 minutes when a penetrating run by Willian ended with the Brazilian
laying the ball off to Moses, who controlled it with his first touch
before firing against the foot of the post. Few minute later Moses
turned provider, pulling the ball back for Traore who scooped his effort
up and over the bar from a great position.
Unsurprisingly, the Blues were totally dominant in terms of
possession but WAC went close when Thomas Zundel fizzed a shot from
distance past Asmir Begovic’s right-hand post.
Formation-wise, we started the game in the same way as we ended
Saturday’s, playing 4-2-4.Nemanja Matic was partnered by Oscar in
central midfield, with Traore and Diego Costa deployed as the strike
partnership.
