Chelsea ended their trip to Italy with another win over Udinese thanks to a 2-0 victory at the Dacia Arena in Udine on Saturday morning.
Thomas Tuchel's side took the lead in the 45th minute through Ruben Loftus-Cheek as he lobbed it into an empty net following a superb ball from Mateo Kovacic.
Hakim Ziyech doubled the lead in the 56th minute, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way from the penalty spot after Loftus-Cheek was fouled.
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It was a new-look Chelsea side for the friendly on Saturday morning as Thomas Tuchel looked to give more of his players 90 minutes to build their match fitness.
Udinese had the first chance of the game after seven minutes. They countered and it fell to Sandi Lovric inside the box, but he could only blast his effort off target.
Armando Broja, who was featuring in pre-season for the first time, nearly put Chelsea ahead five minutes later but his goal-bound header was cleared off the line by Lovric.
Conor Gallagher had a first-half effort well saved by Daniele Padelli as it headed for the top corner. The resulting corner saw Malang Sarr meet the aerial ball at the near post, but he could only head wide.
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Broja had multiple chances to find the back of the net in the opening 45 with two glorious chances. The first came from close range as Hakim Ziyech's ball rolled across the box, but the Albanian couldn't connect to direct it goalwards from four yards out. The second came just after the half hour mark when he beat Padelli to the ball and tried to lob him into an empty net, but the ball landed above the crossbar.
But Chelsea took the lead, finally, on the stroke of half-time. A wonderful pass from Mateo Kovacic into Ruben Loftus-Cheek saw the 26-year-old dink it over the goalkeeper to give Chelsea the advantage.
Callum Hudson-Odoi was brought on at half-time for Broja in Chelsea's only change at the interval.
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Loftus-Cheek bagged an assists in the 56th minute after Ziyech made it 2-0. Loftus-Cheek was brought down in the box and the Moroccan stepped up to slot into the right-hand corner.
Tuchel made more changes just after the hour mark when Marcus Bettinelli, Emerson Palmieri and Kenedy replaced Kepa Arrizabalaga, Ben Chilwell and Malang Sarr. With 15 minutes to go, Billy Gilmour and Harvey Vale were both given more minutes, replacing Loftus-Cheek and Conor Gallagher.
Vale had a half chance when he came on but couldn't keep his effort down as the game drew to a close in Italy.
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That's pre-season done for Chelsea now, who will be given some rest before returning to Cobham next week to begin their Premier League preparations.
Tuchel's side begin their 2022/23 season with a trip to Goodison Park to face Everton.
Pre-season is now over, it's time for the real business to commence.
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Matthew Debono