![]() When fit, no one will dispute James is one of Chelsea’s most important players. Gusto can ease the strain on JamesĬhelsea bought Malo Gusto from Lyon for an initial €30million in January with a view to him providing more competition and cover for Reece James. It said a lot for Nkunku’s confidence that he did not panic and drilled a shot into the top corner. With Wrexham’s defenders rushing back to defend the unguarded net, many Chelsea strikers of the past would have been guilty of snatching at the chance. After running on to Cesare Casadei’s fine pass, he went round Wrexham keeper Rob Lainton, albeit the ball was pushed slightly wider by an outstretched hand. The France international showed a lot of skill and composure to score his first goal for the club. The Senegal international, who counts former Chelsea forward Demba Ba as one of his idols, joined from Villarreal for £32million ($41.4m) last month.Ĭhristopher Nkunku (Photo: Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) Of the two, Jackson impressed the most, albeit he did not have a goal to show for his efforts. Have Chelsea finally signed some good forwards?Īgain the caveat is ‘it was only Wrexham’ but two of Chelsea’s summer recruits, Nicolas Jackson and Nkunku, look like they can give something the team has been missing. First-choice keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and veteran centre-half Thiago Silva watched the 90 minutes from the sidelines. Granted he did not field his strongest side from the kick-off, with more experienced players Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and new signing Christopher Nkunku being introduced in the second half. The average age of the starting XI for the first half of that Club America game, which was overseen by former head coach Thomas Tuchel, was 25.8 Pochettino’s selection against Wrexham had an average age of just 20.9 Then you have to factor in that three more - Callum Hudson-Odoi, Hakim Ziyech and Malang Sarr - have not even travelled from the UK across the Atlantic and should soon be off the books as well. Of the 22 players used in a 2-1 victory against Club America in Las Vegas, a dozen have already left. Just comparing the players selected in the Wrexham game compared with the ones employed in the opening pre-season game versus Club America last July really hammers home how much change there has been at Stamford Bridge over a short period. It is hard to recall a club of Chelsea’s stature having as dramatic a turnaround in squad personnel over the space of just 12 months. But there were positives for Pochettino to take from the opening fixture. Chelsea will have much tougher opposition to face on their tour of America (starting with Brighton at the weekend), let alone once the season proper kicks off.
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