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Pre-season Friendlies

Jul 13, 2019 at 2pm UK

St Patrick's St Patrick's Athletic
0-4
Chelsea

FT(HT: 0-2)

Mount (14'), Palmieri (31'), Giroud (67', 88')

Live Commentary

Match Report

Football

Olivier Giroud nets twice as Chelsea thrash St Patrick's Athletic

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 13 July 2019

Frank Lampard registers his first win as Chelsea manager courtesy of a 4-0 victory over St Patrick's Athletic in Saturday's pre-season friendly in Dublin.

Chelsea have registered their first victory of pre-season courtesy of a 4-0 victory over St Patrick's Athletic in Dublin on Saturday afternoon.

The Blues dominated from start to finish against their weakened opponents as first-half goals from Mason Mount and Emerson Palmieri were followed by a double by Olivier Giroud after the break.

Manager Frank Lampard kept just two of his starting lineup from Wednesday's fixture with Bohemians as Willy Caballero and Michy Batshuayi remained in the team, but that did not prevent Chelsea from quickly finding a rhythm.

Batshuayi was in the thick of the action, firstly seeing a scuffed effort tipped behind by Barry Murphy before failing to convert at the back post after a header from David Luiz.

The Belgium international then struck the top of the crossbar with a thunderous effort, but it did not take much longer for the West Londoners to go in front.

Mateo Kovacic picked out the run of Mount - who had progressed through the centre of the defence - and the youngster took a touch before dinking the ball into the far corner from close range.

St Patrick's were offering very little at the other end of the pitch, and it soon became a struggle for the Irish side to remain in close proximity with a Chelsea side who were determined to impress their new manager.

Tammy Abraham curled over from the edge of the area and although Murphy did superbly to push a Ross Barkley strike onto the post, the veteran goalkeeper could only allow Palmieri's well-struck effort from 20 yards to go into the middle of the net.

However, Murphy went some way to redeeming himself with a stunning stop to keep out Batshuayi's volley from point-blank range, while the 34-year-old was also equal to a 20-yard free kick from Barkley.

Batshuayi was provided with yet another chance just before the break, only to fire over the crossbar, before Abraham somehow failed to find the back of the net, instead firing too close to Murphy after being played through on goal.

Like he did on Wednesday night, Lampard made 11 substitutions at half time, which saw the likes of Andreas Christensen, Marcos Alonso and Giroud provided with their first minutes of pre-season.

Kasey Palmer and Giroud both failed to make the most of half-chances soon after the restart, before Chelsea upped the tempo after the hour mark with Pedro and Kenedy both having low efforts kept out by Murphy.

Nevertheless, there was almost an inevitability about a third goal eventually arriving, and it did when Giroud was on hand to volley home at the back post after a delightful cross from Kenedy.

The pace of the game dropped during an uneventful closing quarter, but Chelsea did add a fourth with three minutes remaining as Giroud found the bottom corner from 12 yards after being allowed to advance into the penalty area.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC XI: Muprhy; Cleary, Webster, Kelly, Bermingham; Forrestor, McCabe, Markey; Clarke, Walker, Doona

CHELSEA FIRST-HALF XI: Caballero; Zappacosta, Tomori, David Luiz, Palmieri; Jorginho, Mount, Kovacic, Barkley; Abraham, Batshuayi

CHELSEA SECOND-HALF XI: Cumming; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, Alonso; Bakayoko, Gilmour; Pedro, Palmer, Kenedy; Giroud