Thomas Tuchel’s team finished the tumultuous preseason against Udinese on a relative high as Raheem Sterling scored his first Chelsea goal.
The Blues’ performances have been inconsistent; prior to the loss to Arsenal, they defeated Club America and lost a penalty shootout to Charlotte.
Even though Chelsea did not exactly put on the world’s most productive performance, they did at least restore some order after being trounced 4-0 by Arsenal in Orlando, a result that made Tuchel doubt the dedication of some of his players.
This will be Tuchel’s most recent opportunity to assess the level of fitness of his players and test different strategies in advance of the upcoming season.
New signees Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly have already played for the team in a preseason game.
N’Golo Kante took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored the game’s opening goal with a brilliant strike from outside the box. Sterling then enjoyed a stroke of luck when his saved shot looped back over the goalkeeper.
Just before halftime, Gerard Deulofeu added some intrigue by capitalising on an ineffective Edouard Mendy save to tap into an empty net, though Mason Mount would eventually wrap up the game by scoring in the closing seconds.
