
Promising
young striker Patrick Bamford scored as Chelsea thrashed League Two Wycombe
5-0 in their opening pre-season friendly.
The 20-year-old, who thrived on-loan at Derby County as they narrowly missed
out on promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs last season, is
looking to force his way into Jose Mourinho’s plans.
And he did his cause no harm with a sweet volley to open the scoring from
Nathan Ake’s left-wing cross early on.
Teenage defender Kurt Zouma came on for the injured Todd Kane before Bamford
had a good chance to finish off a neat Chelsea move just before the break.
But it took the first of two well-taken goals from the promising Izzy Brown
to get the Blues moving in the second half – his first coming from a good
cross from first-year scholar Jay Dasilva.
Club captain John Terry, who signed a new one-year deal at the end of last
season, blasted in from a corner before seasoned defensive partner Branislav
Ivanovic headed in the fourth, and Brown added the fifth.
Chelsea will play AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow in their next pre-season
friendly on Saturday before they depart on a tour of Europe.
They will take Bamford with them in order to make a full assessment of
whether he can push Diego Costa and fellow Spaniard Fernando Torres for a
place up-front this season.