Chelsea boss Pochettino confirms injury despite dream debut in 5-0 Wrexham win

Chelsea thrashed newly promoted League Two side Wrexham 5-0 in North Carolina as the Blues got the Mauricio Pochettino era away to an impressive start.

The game was perfect for all the right reasons but a late injury scare for defender Trevoh Chalobah meant he had to be withdrawn just five minutes to the end because of feeling pain in his Achilles.

Reports from the United States suggested it might have just been precautionary but with Chelsea already missing Wesley Fofana through an ACL injury, central defenders are gold dust at the club at the moment.

Dutch youngster Ian Maatsen who spent last season out on loan at Burnley opened the scoring early on before adding a second just before the break.

Pochettino made six changes in the second half and switched from a 4-2-3-1 formation to a 3-4-3 system with the introduction of Raheem Sterling, Conor Gallagher, Ben Chilwell and Christopher Nkunku among the changes.

Both Sterling and Gallagher would combine for the third goal before French forward Nkunku joined an elite list of players to score for the club on their debut, making it 4-0.

Ben Chilwell wrapped up a comfortable night with a trademark finish from the left, clipping home Chelsea’s fifth on what was a satisfying day at work for everyone.

After the game, Pochettino confirmed he had to withdraw Chalobah late on because of an injury concern. He told reporters: “The thinking was only that Chalobah feels something in his Achilles. In the last 5 minutes we had the choice to play with 10 or 11.”

Pochettino is undertaking a massive rebuild after what was an incredibly underwhelming season where they finished 12 despite spending almost £600million on players.

Chelsea have sold an unprecedented number of first-team players including Kalidou Koulibaly, Mateo Kovacic and Mason Mount, however not many will lose sleep on the evidence of the first game with a host of players broadly impressing on their debut.