Chelsea began their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 3-0 win over London rivals Arsenal at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing.
In a repeat of last season’s FA Cup final, Chelsea took the lead through Willian towards the end of the first half before a brace either side of half time from Michy Batshuayi ensured a winning start for the Premier League champions.
It was Chelsea who started the match on top and they could have taken the lead inside three minutes when Cesc Fabregas threaded a pass through for Victor Moses, only for the wing-back to fire a tame effort straight at David Ospina in the Arsenal goal.
Ospina was beaten five minutes later when a mistake from Ashley Maitland-Niles allowed Willian to run through on goal, but the Brazilian rolled his finish past the far post with only the keeper to beat.
The first goal arrived moments later, though, as Batshuayi escaped his marker before playing a ball through for Willian, who cut inside past Nacho Monreal and curled a precise finish into the bottom corner off the inside of the post.
Having broken the deadlock Chelsea then made it two goals in as many minutes, with Batshuayi getting his own name on the scoresheet with another clinical strike, collecting the ball just outside the box before burying his finish into the bottom corner.
The Gunners made a host of changes at the interval, but it took Chelsea just four minutes of the second half to extend their lead when Fabregas and Marcos Alonso combined to tee up Batshuayi, who doubled his personal tally for the match with a stunning first-time strike into the top corner.
Chelsea came close again with just over 15 minutes remaining when Fabregas’s pass picked out the marauding run of Fikayo Tomori, whose first touch was perfect only for his eventual effort to be kept out by the keeper.
Chelsea held on to their three-goal advantage, though, and will now travel to Singapore to continue their pre-season schedule with matches against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan before meeting Arsenal again in the Community Shield on August 6.
In a repeat of last season’s FA Cup final, Chelsea took the lead through Willian towards the end of the first half before a brace either side of half time from Michy Batshuayi ensured a winning start for the Premier League champions.
It was Chelsea who started the match on top and they could have taken the lead inside three minutes when Cesc Fabregas threaded a pass through for Victor Moses, only for the wing-back to fire a tame effort straight at David Ospina in the Arsenal goal.
Ospina was beaten five minutes later when a mistake from Ashley Maitland-Niles allowed Willian to run through on goal, but the Brazilian rolled his finish past the far post with only the keeper to beat.
The first goal arrived moments later, though, as Batshuayi escaped his marker before playing a ball through for Willian, who cut inside past Nacho Monreal and curled a precise finish into the bottom corner off the inside of the post.
Having broken the deadlock Chelsea then made it two goals in as many minutes, with Batshuayi getting his own name on the scoresheet with another clinical strike, collecting the ball just outside the box before burying his finish into the bottom corner.
The Gunners made a host of changes at the interval, but it took Chelsea just four minutes of the second half to extend their lead when Fabregas and Marcos Alonso combined to tee up Batshuayi, who doubled his personal tally for the match with a stunning first-time strike into the top corner.
Chelsea came close again with just over 15 minutes remaining when Fabregas’s pass picked out the marauding run of Fikayo Tomori, whose first touch was perfect only for his eventual effort to be kept out by the keeper.
Chelsea held on to their three-goal advantage, though, and will now travel to Singapore to continue their pre-season schedule with matches against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan before meeting Arsenal again in the Community Shield on August 6.
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