Chelsea 6-4 Western Sydney Wanderers: Joao Pedro hat-trick seals winning start for Xabi Alonso in chaotic friendly | OneFootball

Brazilian responded to World Cup snub in style

Joao Pedro scored a late hat-trick as Xabi Alonso made a winning start to his Chelsea career, edging Western Sydney Wanderers in a dramatic ten-goal friendly encounter.

The lead changed hands five times at the Accor Stadium, with Chelsea taking the lead minutes in before ultimately requiring a late comeback to seal victory.

The match gives Alonso plenty of food for thought as he looks to tighten up his Chelsea side ahead of his first Premier League campaign, and he has five more friendlies in which to do so. He will be thrilled with some free-flowing attacking play, but a seriously porous defence may give cause for sleepless nights.

The Spaniard named a youthful starting XI featuring just three senior first-team players - Tosin Adarabioyo, Liam Delap and Dario Essugo.

Lively start: Xabi Alonso

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Chelsea made a lively start to the tie despite contending with a dreadful, patchy surface at the Accor Stadium, the product of three rugby league matches hosted there over the weekend.

The first half saw the Blues play some easy-on-the-eyes, free-flowing attacking football and the first example of that came as Ryan Kavuma-McQueen slid a superb through-ball to the debutant Dastan Satpayev, who slammed an emphatic finish beyond Jordan Holmes to put Chelsea in front.

Their lead was short-lived, though. Chelsea’s youthful defence was off the pace for much of the first period and was punished early as Anthony Pantzopoulos headed home a routine equaliser.

Off the mark: Dastan Satpayev

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Western Sydney were in the ascendancy as they continued to pick apart Alonso’s back four, and Aydan Hammond beat Josh Acheampong all too easily before finishing low past Teddy Sharman-Lowe to take the lead. He could have doubled the advantage a moment later, too, after Tosin Adarabioyo gave up possession, but missed the mark.

For every Chelsea error there was a highlight-reel moment, and the pattern continued as a well-worked attack inspired by Essugo culminated in the Portuguese burying a tidy finish beyond the outstretched palm of Holmes to equalise before the break.

Tired legs and poor fortune combined as Landon Emenalo’s deflected clearance fell kindly for Dylan Scicluna to fire beyond Sharman-Lowe, and his lead heralded a raft of Chelsea substitutions. Among the cavalry introduced were Cole Palmer, Estevao, Joao Pedro, Levi Colwill, and another debutant in Marco Palestra.

Decisive: Joao Pedro

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But it was Jamie Gittens who had an instant impact, forcing a save with his first involvement and firing home from Joao Pedro’s cross with his second. It is his third goal in three pre-season appearances to date.

The momentum was firmly in Chelsea’s favour as the clock wound down, with Palmer and Palestra appearing lively, but one loose pass from Estevao was enough to send Sydney through on goal. Awan Lual made no mistake as he slipped a shot under Robert Sanchez to give the locals a late lead.

But Joao Pedro buried a calm finish barely two minutes later to drag the Blues back level once again and moments later had the winner, before tapping home from a goalmouth scramble to confirm his late hat-trick, a classy response to a shock exclusion from Brazil’s World Cup squad.

Chelsea return to action on Saturday, facing Tottenham in Sydney.