Chelsea have a very short pre-season schedule in 2025 because of their success in this summer’s Club World Cup tournament. It was very different seven years ago, though.
The Blues players are currently on holiday, resting after a long season that finished with Chelsea winning the Club World Cup by thrashing Paris Saint-Germain in the final last week.
Enzo Maresca’s side play against Bayer Leverkusen (8 August) and AC Milan (10 August) at Stamford Bridge in their only two friendly matches before the 2025/26 campaign.
Back in the 2018 summer break, Chelsea played five pre-season games ahead of the new season. Maurizio Sarri, who only spent one year in the manager’s dugout in West London, took charge for the start of the 2018 pre-season.
Finishing fifth in the Premier League during the 2017/2018 campaign, Italian boss Sarri certainly had a positive impact during his time in charge of Chelsea.
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The first Chelsea team picked by Maurizio Sarri
So, Chelsea kicked off their 2018 pre-season with a 1-0 victory against Perth Glory on 23 July.
The XI featured a lot of familiar names that supporters will recognise, including goalscorer Pedro.
Chelsea’s starting line-up vs Perth Glory: Marcin Bulka, Davide Zappacosta, Ethan Ampadu, David Luiz, Marcos Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Jorginho, Ross Barkley, Pedro, Alvaro Morata, Callum Hudson-Odoi.
There are certainly some eye-catching names in Sarri’s first-ever team, including several players who achieved greatness at Chelsea.
The likes of David Luiz, Jorginho and Pedro would emerge as important players for Sarri during his one year at the Chelsea helm.
Cesc Fabregas, the midfield maestro, may have started the opening pre-season match of the 2018/19 season for Chelsea, but he left the club in the January after playing a bit-part role.
Interestingly, Fabregas is now retired in the modern day and the manager of Serie A club Como. Fabregas was recently linked with becoming Napoli manager, but Antonio Conte is staying on for the upcoming campaign.
The Chelsea substitutes
During Chelsea’s pre-season win over Perth Glory, Sarri used eight different substitutes as he got a first look at his players in a match environment.
Ola Aina, Tammy Abraham, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Charly Musonda, Tomas Kalas, Mario Pasalic, Lucas Piazon and Emerson Palmieri all came off the bench to feature.
The likes of Fikayo Tomori and Danny Drinkwater were unused substitutes, and the least said about those two, the better. Tomori is the one who got away in many people’s eyes, while Drinkwater completely flopped at the club.
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