Chelsea vs Western Sydney Wanderers LIVE: Friendly match stream, latest score, goal updates and fan reaction | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso takes charge of Blues officially for first time in pre-season tour opener

Chelsea begin the Xabi Alonso era this morning as they kick off their pre-season tour campaign against Western Sydney Wanderers at Accor Stadium. The Blues’ new boss has technically been in post since early July and oversaw behind-closed-doors friendly wins over both Crawley and Bromley at Cobham last week, but this is his first official match at the helm. Alonso will hope to hit the ground running in Australia, before summer preparations quickly ramp up against familiar rivals Tottenham in the Sydney Super Cup on Saturday.

Chelsea are without a number of key stars who remain on holiday following the World Cup, a group that includes new club-record £117million signing Morgan Rogers, while other new arrivals such as Emmanuel Emegha and Geovany Quenda miss out through injury. However, Alonso has still taken a strong squad Down Under featuring the likes of Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and recent recruit Marco Palestra.

Several highly-rated youngsters will also get their chance to impress, with Chelsea also scheduled to play Juventus, AC Milan, Johor Darul Ta'zim and Real Sociedad before returning to Premier League action against rivals Fulham on August 24. Follow Chelsea vs Western Sydney Wanderers live below!

Live updates

Team news reminder

With ten minutes to kick-off, a reminder of today’s starting lineups.

Western Sydney Wanderers XI: Holmes; Gersbach, Hammond, Scicluna, Di Pizio, Gillion, Pantazopoulos, Borrello, Thurgate, Ferreyra, Madahna

Chelsea XI: Sharman-Lowe, Acheampong, Tosin, Subuloye, Emenalo, Walsh, Watson, Essugo, Delap, Satpaev, Kavuma-McQueen

Sydney scenes!

Who will captain Chelsea today?

Tosin Adarabioyo will don the captain’s armband from the off today.

Three names left out of the Chelsea squad today

Filip Jorgensen, Jorrel Hato and Mamadou Sarr have all been left out of the matchday squad today.

It is too early in the summer for Hato and Sarr to feature so they are left out as a precaution.

It seems Jorgensen is left out due to the fact he is transfer listed and expected to leave the club this summer.

Alonso reveals what to expect from his Chelsea side

“We will be flexible in our tactics, in our approach, in our game plans.

“We have our principles; what we want can be the same, but we have tried, and we will try, different ideas. It’s about updating, developing something they have done with new concepts, which each manager has.

“We need to go step by step. For that, we need to create good energies, good chemistry in the team. The team that will start in August won't be the same team that finishes in May, and I’m sure that team in May will be better than the first day.”