Xabi Alonso's Chelsea Triumphs in 10-Goal Thriller with João Pedro's Hat-Trick
Xabi Alonso’s first game in charge of Chelsea had everything pre-season is supposed to offer and plenty it usually does not. Ten goals, a chaotic back line, a teenage triallist scoring inside six minutes and a £60m forward reminding everyone exactly why the club bought him.
What it did not have was clarity on whether Danny Welbeck or Jordan Henderson will be joining him.
Chelsea’s new head coach watched his side beat Western Sydney Wanderers 6-4 at the Accor Stadium, then batted away questions about the club’s surprise interest in two of the Premier League’s most seasoned campaigners.
“I’m sure that from today to the last day of the transfer window there will be a lot of links, a lot of rumours,” Alonso said. “So to be commenting on all of them, it’s going to be a hard task. But for sure, we need proper balance in terms of qualities, in terms of positions, in terms of balance. We want to have a complete squad and we want to make a good team.”
Welbeck, 35, is in talks over a move from Brighton. Henderson, 36, is also on Chelsea’s radar after his season at Brentford. Two names from another era of the Premier League, now central to a very modern course correction at Stamford Bridge: less obsession with youth and resale value, more emphasis on experience and dressing-room knowhow.
Alonso would not confirm either pursuit. He did not need to. The shift in strategy is already visible.
Youth on the pitch, experience on the horizon
On the grass in Sydney, his team looked more like the old Chelsea model: young, raw, and occasionally wild. Liam Delap and Tosin Adarabioyo were the most seasoned players in a starting XI that felt closer to an academy showcase than the first outing of a new regime.
It took just six minutes for one of the kids to seize the stage. Dastan Satpayev, 17 years old and not yet officially a Chelsea player, burst through from a perfectly weighted pass by fellow teenager Ryan Kavuma-McQueen and smashed his finish inside the near post. A triallist, a debut, a ruthless strike. Pre-season is built for stories like that.
The problem was at the other end.
Chelsea’s back four never looked comfortable against a sharp Wanderers frontline. Crosses caused panic. Set pieces were worse. On this evidence, Austin MacPhee, the set-piece specialist expected to arrive from Aston Villa, will walk into a full in-tray. Brandon Borrello and Anthony Pantazopoulos repeatedly found space from corners, the latter heading in at the back post with embarrassing ease.
The Wanderers, bottom of their domestic league last season, sensed vulnerability and went after it. Aydan Hammond struck to give them the lead, only for Dário Essugo to level with a composed finish that hinted at the technical control Alonso will demand in midfield. The first half ended 2-2, open, loose and entertaining, but miles from “proper balance”.
Chaos, then the cavalry
The second half began as the first had ended: with Chelsea’s defence flirting with disaster. Landon Emenalo impressed going forward from left-back, but when his attempted clearance ricocheted kindly into the path of Dylan Scicluna, the Wanderers punished the mistake and surged 3-2 ahead.
That was enough for Alonso. On 63 minutes, he turned to his bench and unleashed the names that will shape his season: Cole Palmer, João Pedro and a wave of senior quality.
The impact was immediate. João Pedro, all strength and subtlety on the edge of the box, held off challenges before rolling the ball back to Jamie Gittens, who drilled in from close range. 3-3, and Chelsea finally looked like a Premier League side playing an A-League team in pre-season, not the other way round.
Then, just as the visitors seemed to have wrestled control, the chaos returned. Estêvão Willian was robbed on the edge of his own area, Awan Lual slipped the ball through Robert Sánchez’s legs, and Wanderers led for a third time. A 4-3 scoreline that felt more like a World Cup third-place play-off than a gentle July workout – and, in fact, matched England’s 6-4 win over France in that very game.
The response this time was ruthless.
João Pedro takes over
From that moment, João Pedro simply decided the evening would belong to him.
First, he showed the composure that defined his outstanding debut season in blue, timing his run and finish to drag Chelsea level again. Then came another cool strike, again inside five minutes, the Brazilian gliding through a tiring defence with the assurance of a player who knows he is the difference-maker.
His third was scruffier, scrambled in from a corner, but no one in Chelsea colours cared. A nine-minute hat-trick, a 6-4 lead, and a reminder that while the club scours the market for experience, one of its most important leaders is already in the dressing room.
João Pedro hit 20 goals last season after arriving from Brighton for £60m. Alonso has inherited a player in full bloom, and he knows it.
“Very hungry,” he said when asked about the forward’s mindset. “João is really, really determined to have a great season. He wants to, after a great last year, when he scored many goals. He wants to keep scoring more and more.”
On this evidence, nothing about that ambition looks unrealistic.
Mixed nights and mixed messages
Not everyone enjoyed such a smooth evening. Delap, repeatedly linked with a move away from west London, endured another frustrating outing. He worked, he pressed, he found chances – but he did not find the net. For a 23-year-old striker at a crossroads, those misses linger.
Alonso, though, sounded satisfied with the player’s approach.
“I see him in a good mood, in a good desire to get proper fitness, proper football, feeling good and he’s doing great,” he said. The tone was encouraging, but the subtext is clear: this pre-season will help decide who stays, who goes and who gets pushed down the pecking order.
Behind the scoreline and the spectacle, that is the real story of Chelsea’s summer. A club that spent two years chasing the future is now looking hard at the present. Satpayev, Kavuma-McQueen, Emenalo and the rest have shown there is talent bubbling underneath. João Pedro and Palmer underline the quality already in place at the top.
What Alonso wants now is the layer in between: the Welbecks, the Hendersons, the players who have lived a decade of elite football and can steady a dressing room when the storm hits.
He will not say it out loud yet. He does not have to. One wild night in Sydney showed him exactly where his team thrills, and exactly where it still creaks.
