5 Things Learned From Chelsea's 3-0 Win Over AC Milan In Pre-Season | OneFootball

Chelsea produced their best performance of pre-season yet with the 3-0 win against AC Milan. Video Credit: Absolute Chelsea

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Chelsea claimed victory over AC Milan on Saturday evening in Indonesia to get back to winning ways in pre-season.

After back-to-back defeats against Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus, Xabi Alonso's side claimed their second win of the pre-season tour of Australia and Asia.

Joao Pedro's brace and Moises Caicedo's sublime effort in the second half secured a deserved victory for the Blues, as they move on to Malaysia for their final match of the tour,

Chelsea managed to keep a clean sheet too, which will have pleased Alonso, given the disappointing goals they have conceded throughout the tour.

Caicedo celebrates scoring Chelsea's third goal with Pedro Neto. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

It could have been more for Chelsea, with Cole Palmer, Geovany Quenda and Nicolas Jackson all having chances to add to the scoreline. But it ended with three goals and a clean sheet - a positive night for the Blues.

Here are five things learned from Chelsea's win over AC Milan in Indonesia.

As pre-season intensifies and Chelsea's players start to find match sharpness, it was important to start getting results for their confidence.

Despite only narrowly losing to Spurs and Juventus, Chelsea's performance against AC Milan deserved a win. Josh Acheampong was a notable player who took their opportunity to impress in defence.

They looked assured on the ball, created good chances, and proved a threat at set pieces, which proved influential in securing the victory. They will have been pleased to keep a clean sheet too.

As Alonso mentioned pre-match, Chelsea's players were able to play the majority of the game, except for Neto and Danny Welbeck, who both arrived late for pre-season and are still building up their match fitness and sharpness.

Chelsea brought in set-piece coach Austin MacPhee from Aston Villa to improve their record at set-pieces, both defending and attacking.

Pedro's header from Caicedo's corner just before half-time will have pleased MacPhee and Alonso, who will both hope that it will be a familiar tale throughout the 2026/27 season.

That was the first of two goals from corners. The second was even better. Romeo Lavia's corner found Caicedo on the edge of the box, and he turned provider to goalscorer with a sublime effort to steer his effort with the outside of his foot into the bottom corner.

A pleasing win for Alonso, who will have seen notable progress from his new side. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

Throughout pre-season so far, Alonso has opted for his back four system. It was a matter of time before the three-back formation was put on display. Alonso decided to deploy it against the Rossoneri, with Marco Palestra playing as a left wing-back and Pedro Neto, who played his first minutes of pre-season, as a right wing-back.

Neto and Palestra found themselves in plenty of space to create chances. Palestra was unlucky not to have found an assist when pulling a ball back for Joao Pedro, who was only able to fire over from inside the box.

But Joao Pedro did manage to put one away when Neto clipped a cross into the box in the 46th minute to find the Brazilian, who tapped into an empty net.

With Quenda's ability to play as a wing-back, as he did in the second half when he replaced Neto, Alonso has plenty of options for this system.

The 21-year-old, who arrived from Atalanta, feels like a Marcos Alonso 2.0. A threat down the left-hand side for the Blues, he was unlucky not to have any of his created chances converted.

If Palestra can get to grips with the Premier League, he could be a game-changer for the Blues should he be able to convert time and space, with chances for his teammates, or even have strikes at goal himself.

Chelsea will look to improve Palestra's defensive game to ensure he offers cover for the centre-backs. He was caught a couple of times, but fortunately wasn't punished.

Joao Pedro back on the scoresheet with a brace

After scoring a hat-trick against Western Sydney Wanderers, the 24-year-old was unable to find the target against Spurs or Juventus. But he got back in with two goals against AC Milan, to make it five in pre-season for the Chelsea forward.

The first from a corner to nod in, before a second at the back post to connect with Neto's cross, to bag a quick brace either side of half-time.