Western Sydney Wanderers 4-6 Chelsea: Joao Pedro scores hat-trick as Xabi Alonso marks first game with bonkers 10-goal thriller

Joao Pedro scored a nine-minute hat-trick as Xabi Alonso began his Chelsea reign with a ridiculous 6-4 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers in pre-season.

Chelsea led through 17-year-old Dastan Satpaev in only the sixth minute, yet managed to fall behind three times to the A-League side before substitute Joao Pedro showed his class with a late treble in Sydney.

Alonso named a youthful side in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Tosin and Liam Delap the only significant senior experience in the starting XI before introducing the likes of Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro, Estevao and Levi Colwill midway through the second half.

Chelsea's first two goals, the second coming from Dario Essugo, were brilliant moves from back to front on a bumpy pitch used primarily for rugby league matches, and were a sign of the style Alonso will hope to implement at Stamford Bridge.

But their defending was poor and after being level at the break, Alonso's side were trailing in the 64th minute by the time he brought on his stars, deploying Palmer in the No 10 role with Estevao on the right and Jamie Gittens on the other side.

Gittens levelled two minutes after his introduction for 3-3, yet Estevao's slack pass left youngster Reggie Watson short deep inside their own half, and Western Sydney substitute Awan Lual punished the error to restore their lead with little over 10 minutes remaining.

But then the Joao Pedro show started. He finished expertly from inside the box to bring Chelsea level again, slotted home to give them the lead after being played in by Palmer and then tapped in his third from a couple of yards at a corner to seal a remarkable hat-trick and the win.

There's always a word of caution about reading too much into the opening game of pre-season, especially with so many first-team players missing for Chelsea.

But there are certainly a few takeaways from Xabi Alonso's debut in the dugout...

"It has been a very useful friendly that we can learn a lot from today. There were moments when we were struggling to find solutions, and we needed this. The positive is that we corrected them, but there were moments when the game management is something that we can learn from today.

"When they were pressing so high, it was tough to find the solution from inside, to have a different understanding of what's happening, and to make those changes in the game.

"It's something that will happen often in all the games, and the more situations we struggle with and find solutions, the better team we will be. For that, I think that this friendly is going to be useful for the future, and as well for minutes for everyone."