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.
For all the talk of Chelsea looking to add experience to their side, Xabi Alonso has gone for a very young starting lineup here.
Liam Delap starts up top in what appears to be a 4-2-3-1.
Marco Palestra is set to make his Chelsea debut today in some capacity. The versatile Italian defender was signed for £47million at the start of the month from Atalanta and is expected to take some part in Sydney.
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.
Multi-sports markings were still visible on the pitch ahead of kick-off on Tuesday morning. Three games were played at the arena over the weekend – and Chelsea trained elsewhere in preparation.
Nervous supporters, who may well remember star Christopher Nkunku going down in the last game of Mauricio Pochettino‘s 2023 summer tour of America, are praying for no injuries. One wrote on X: “The pitch in Sydney doesn’t look good at all. Chelsea players need to be extra careful on this pitch”. Another added: “I hope this pitch is injury free”.