Chelsea head into their Membership World Cup conflict towards Flamengo buoyed by the very fact they lastly have two out-and-out strikers to name upon.
Nicolas Jackson was their sole choice final season however a mix of accidents and suspension restricted the impression the Senegalese ahead made at Stamford Bridge. His common absence meant boss Enzo Maresca needed to utilise varied choices – together with Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Cole Palmer as false nines – to attempt to plug the hole.
Chelsea bolstered their squad earlier this month by signing Liam Delap from Ipswich and the PFA Younger Participant of the 12 months nominee made a optimistic impression on his debut within the 2-0 win over LAFC on Monday night.
Jackson and Delap ended with an help every towards the Californians, Jackson’s intelligent flip and move selecting out Neto for the opener whereas Delap got here off the bench to provide the cross for Enzo Fernandez to seal the three factors.
“Each are superb quantity nines and hopefully each can rating objectives and get assists,” Maresca mentioned. “I want to have 4 or 5 gamers who rating 10 or 12 objectives every quite one striker who scores 40 objectives. Enzo scored once more too, which is nice.
“Final yr we tried to make use of totally different threats, totally different weapons; we additionally had two or three months the place we have been with out Nico and Marc [Guiu].
“We tried to seek out totally different options however for positive, when you might have two strikers like Nico and Liam, it’s a pleasant feeling as a head coach.
“ you possibly can select certainly one of them and it’s going to be a sensible choice.”
Our focus turns to Chelsea 🧠 pic.twitter.com/pBGThFy7rP
— Flamengo (@Flamengo_en) June 19, 2025
It was not all the time easy crusing for Chelsea towards LAFC with the MLS facet nonetheless within the recreation till Fernandez’s objective 11 minutes from full time.
And Flamengo should current a a lot sterner check.
They’re managed by former Chelsea full-back Filipe Luis, who prefers a excessive press, excessive power recreation. The Brazilians beat Esperance 2-0 of their first outing due to objectives from Luiz Araujo and Giorgian de Arrascaeta.
Jorginho made his debut for Flamengo towards the Tunisian facet and he’s anticipated to start out towards his former membership in Philadelphia.
Requested for his opinion on the sport, the skilled midfielder believes it might come all the way down to the finer particulars. He mentioned: “I imagine that the sport is all the time form of like that [ups and downs], particularly the massive ones, with two groups that like to manage the opponent.
“We’ve to be ready to run, to endure, as a result of it’s going to occur, and be ready for when we’ve management, as a result of this may also occur. It may be an incredible recreation for many who will watch. In these nice video games the main points make the distinction. We’ve to take pleasure in it in the very best approach when we’ve the alternatives.”
Staff Information for Flamengo v Chelsea
Delap could are available for Jackson to provide Maresca the prospect to evaluate each. Trevoh Chalobah is also in line to exchange Tosin Adarabioyo.
De La Cruz and Alex Sandro are again in full coaching and will begin. Each Araujo and De Arrascaeta missed coaching on Wednesday however are anticipated to be match.
🇺🇸💪 pic.twitter.com/BUWO6NnMYk
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) June 18, 2025
