Izuchukwu Okosi
Chelsea beat Fulham 2-0 to win the inuagural edition of the Premier League Summer Series on Sunday evening at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, USA.
Starring a lot of youngsters from kickoff barring captain Thiago Silva and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, the Blues shoes plenty of promise albeit news broke during the game of the club’s acquisition of Axel Disasi, the AS Monaco centreback of African descent.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelFor Fulham, Nigeria international, Calvin Bassey made his debut for the Cottagers as he came on in the second half.
After Aston Vila’s 3-3 draw with Brentford earlier in the day, Chelsea knew only a victory would be enough to be crowned champions due to Villa’s stronger goal difference.
But a much-changed Chelsea team took control of a west London derby on US soil thanks to first-half goals from Thiago Silva and Christopher Nkunku.
Thiago Silva’s goal was a header from a Ben Chilwell corner, while Nkunku’s came from close range after Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno could only parry Carney Chukwuemeka’s shot into his path.
It was Nkunku’s second goal of the tournament and his third since signing.
Chelsea started 19-year-old American goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina but Fulham could not seriously test him or substitute goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom, managing only one shot on target all match.
There was a welcome boost for Fulham fans, though, as Raul Jimenez and Calvin Bassey both played for the first time following their arrivals from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ajax respectively.
However, both teams suffered injury blows, with captain Tom Cairney going off for Fulham with a suspected hamstring injury, while Trevoh Chalobah only lasted 15 minutes having come on as a second-half substitute.
Chelsea’s win means they end the tournament with two wins and one draw, and remain unbeaten in pre-season under Mauricio Pochettino. They have one match remaining, against Borussia Dortmund on 2 August, before their Premier League opener at home to Liverpool on 13 August.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
