Chelsea fans get a glimpse at a bright Blues future as Liam Delap gets off the mark at Club World Cup | OneFootball

Andrey Santos and Mamadou Sarr made their debuts in an easy win in Philadelphia

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Malik Ouzia

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Delap’s £30million move from Ipswich Town already appeared a bargain before he even first turned out for Chelsea, and even more so after his confident personal displays against LAFC and Flamengo. Against ES Tunis, he went up another notch.

Liam Delap scored his first goal since joining

REUTERS

There was a confidence, a cockiness even, about the way the Englishman turned Mohamed Ben Ali by outmuscling the defender and then cut past Yassine Meriah before rolling nonchalantly past the goalkeeper. There is a cliché that says Chelsea’s No9 shirt is haunted, given how many of its recent owners have flopped, yet the 22-year-old is embracing the pressure in the US.

“You’ve got to have confidence and belief as a player,” he said. “It’s just a number. It doesn’t mean that much to me,” he told DAZN afterwards. His Chelsea career has begun with real lustre. “It was a special feeling,” he added.

Maresca admitted this week that it has been “impossible” to train normally in the searing heat in the United States, and allowances have had to be made in games too. This was Philadelphia’s hottest day since 1994, so Chelsea sensibly sat off, allowing ES Tunis time on the ball when they had it, rather than pressing intently. The Blues had learnt the hard way, having wilted in the sun and let their game plan unravel comprehensively in Friday’s defeat to Flamengo.

Andrey Santos made his Chelsea debut

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters

Better game management allowed Chelsea, who made eight changes and rested Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo, to keep plenty in the tank for the second half. After they bizarrely had what appeared a correctly-awarded penalty for a clear handball overturned — depriving Christopher Nkunku of a rare goal — the scoreline did grow further as George’s driven shot from range squirmed past Bechir Ben Said thanks to some rather hapless goalkeeping.

The words of Maresca before the match in explaining why young star Andrey Santos had again been overlooked were curious. “It’s [time] for him to understand how we play,” said Maresca. Surely the simplest way was to play him?

Well, with the game already won, he did — awarding Santos and, later, the teenage defender Mamadou Sarr their Chelsea debuts, and also calling on the robust midfielder Dario Essugo. Supporters are excited by all three players and what they might bring in the years ahead. All three fared well, with Santos winning the (eventually overturned) penalty and even assisting George’s goal.

Chelsea meet Benfica in the round of 16 and will believe they have enough to get past the Portuguese giants. But the victory that got them there, this 3-0 win over ES Tunis, was all about Delap, Essugo, Santos and Sarr. It was about Chelsea’s future.