Victor Moses and Nigeria-born England left-back Ola Aina were impressive forChelsea 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.