Chelsea made it 4 wins out of 5 in their pre-season European tour as a solid performance saw them earn a 3-1 victory over Vitesse Arnheim in the Netherlands.
The new signings signings were once again impressive as Diego Costa had a role in all the three goals, while Cesc Fabregas scored the second with a beautiful, curling free-kick. This was after Mohamed Salah had opened the scoring in the second minute with virtually the Blues’ first attack. Nemanja Matic added a third late on before Uros Djurdjevic pulled one back for the hosts.
Vitesse have, for the past couple of teams, been Chelsea’s B team of sorts, as several players have been loaned out from London to Arnheim. Two of those players, Wallace and Bertrand Traore, featured in the starting XI for the Dutch side, and they faced the peculiar situation of having to impress the managers of both the teams.
It was the guests though, who hit the front, as Matic’s superb through-ball found Costa. The Spaniard, who scored his first goal in the previous game, unselfishly squared for Salah, and the Egyptian made no mistake with the finish.
It was 2-0 on 22 minutes when Costa won a free-kick from 25 yards out. Fabregas stepped up and curled the ball into the corner to score his first goal for Chelsea. The former Barcelona man, who had assumed the No.10 role in this game, had been surprisingly quiet up until that point.
Vitesse threatened with a couple of corner-kicks to the near post that caught Chelsea cold, but were unable to get the ball past Petr Cech. The game remained uneventful with the result more or less beyond doubt, until 16 minutes from the end when Mourinho’s men added a third. Matic won the ball back in midfield and continued his run and Costa once again laid it on a platter for his teammate rather than going for goal himself. Vitesse got a consolation late on when substitute Djurdjevic headed in from close-range.
With Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois coming back to the squad and Didier Drogba nearing match-fitness, Chelsea look like a really solid outfit this season. Also, Oscar, Willian, Ramires and Andre Schuerrle are yet to return after the World Cup. The Blues’ next game is on Sunday, against Werder Bremen in Germany in what will surely be their sternest test thus far. They play 2 more games after that before kicking off their Premier League campaign against Burnley on August 18.
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