João Pedro scored a quickfire hat-trick as Alonso made a successful start
Joao Pedro came off the bench to grab a nine-minute hat-trick and inspire Chelsea to their first win under new manager Xabi Alonso.
The Blues started with a small team against Western Sydney Wanderers and the A-League side were leading 3-2 in the 65th minute but failed to stop the likes of Pedro, Cole Palmer and Willian Estevao when they were introduced.
Chelsea struck Jamie Gittens quickly and, although the home side regained their advantage through Awan Lual, Pedro scored a fine hat-trick to give the Londoners a thrilling win.
Pedro responds to rumors that Chelsea want Welbeck
Pedro missed out on a place in Brazil’s World Cup squad – which was controversially mentioned in favor of Neymar – but appears to have benefited from the summer break. His timing was perfect as Chelsea looked to land a move for veteran Brighton centre-forward Danny Welbeck.
Pedro had to wait for his moment to shine as Alonso named a starting XI for the match at the Accor Stadium.
And the traveling fans had just seven minutes to wait before their side took the lead thanks to a fine goal from Dastan Satpaev. Satpaev, who is on trial for his youth team Kairat Almaty until his move to Chelsea is confirmed when he turns 18 in August, ran onto Ryan Kavuma-McQueen with the ball and smashed his effort into the top of the net.
Kavuma-McQueen also did well at the start of the pitch and could have made it 2-0 four minutes later, his left-footed shot tipped over the bar by Western Sydney goalkeeper Jordan Holmes.
The home side, who finished bottom of the A-League last season, finally found their footing and Chelsea goalkeeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe was called upon after 13 minutes to make a fine save to deny Liam Gillian.
Sharman-Lowe didn’t cover himself in glory soon after, failing to cover Anthony Pantazopoulos’ header as Western Sydney settled things down.
More sloppy defending saw Aydan Hammond put Western Sydney 2-1 up after 32 minutes but Chelsea drew level seven minutes before the break in another year that culminated with Dario Essugo heading into the bottom corner.
Chelsea’s youth are impressive but the front men are doing the damage
The second half started with Chelsea having two 16-year-olds – Mahdi Nicol-Jazuli and Reggie Watson – in midfield and the boys worked well before Western Sydney hit back on 62 minutes, Dylan Scicluna firing home after a mistake by Landon Emenalo.
That was the cue for Alonso to bring in his big guns and the impact was immediate as Pedro stopped Gittens to make it 3-3.
Estevao’s low pass to Watson enabled Lual to slot in and squeeze in the Wanderers’ fourth but, from then on, it was all Chelsea and Pedro.
The former Brighton striker coolly made it 4-4 two minutes later and latched on to Palmer’s goal to add a ninth goal on a chaotic night with five minutes remaining.
There was more to come as Estevao’s corner was deflected into Wesley Fofana’s goal and Pedro was there to poke the ball over the line.
Next up for Chelsea
Chelsea have four games left in their Asian tour. All UK times.
August 1: Chelsea v Tottenham (Accor Stadium, Sydney, 10:45)
August 5: Chelsea v Juventus (Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong, 12:30)
August 8: Chelsea v AC Milan (Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, 13:00)
11 August: Johor Darul Ta’zim v Chelsea (Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, Johor, 13:00)
