Chelsea have ended a mixed pre-season campaign on a high note with a 2-0 victory over Udinese on Saturday morning.
On Friday night, a stronger Blues XI prevailed at the Dacia Arena, but head coach Thomas Tuchel was keen to get a longer workout for other members of his squad.
As expected, the German made widespread changes to the team which started the previous evening, Armando Broja a notable starter on the back of constant speculation regarding his future.
Both sides had opportunities during the opening stages, Sandi Lovric sending a shot over the crossbar for Udinese before Conor Gallagher replicated that for the visitors.
As the first half progressed, Chelsea started to become dominant, Broja squandering a couple of opportunities either side of Gallagher having a shot saved by Daniele Padelli.
Broja remained in the thick of the action without providing the necessary cutting edge, but Chelsea were still able to head into the break deservedly ahead.
We seal a two-goal victory in our training game in Udine. Hakim's penalty added to Ruben's first-half goal.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 30, 2022
Nicely done, lads! 🤝 pic.twitter.com/tJlM77nPf1
Mateo Kovacic played a neat through-ball into the path of Loftus-Cheek, who held off the attention of a defender to smartly lob the ball over the advancing Padelli.
Shortly after the restart, Chelsea doubled their lead from the penalty spot, Ziyech getting on the scoresheet after Loftus-Cheek had been upended inside the area.
Tuchel opted to introduce the likes of Marcus Bettinelli and Kenedy for the last half hour, while Billy Gilmour and Harvey Vale were also given minutes during the closing quarter.
The remainder of the contest was lacking the goalmouth action from earlier in the morning, with Vale sending the best opening over the crossbar after good work from Kenedy.
Nevertheless, Tuchel will be satisfied with the second run-out in the space of less than 24 hours ahead of next week's Premier League opener against Everton.
No Data Analysis info
