Hakim Ziyech’s rich vein of form in pre-season continued when he struck a brace against Tottenham Hotspur in Chelsea’s latest pre-season outing.
The Blues were competing in the second match of the ongoing Mind Series at Stamford Bridge when the Moroccan marked the outing with a clinical brace, with goals on either side of halftime.
The winger has now scored five goals in pre-season – making a strong impression on Thomas Tuchel before the season starts.
The first strike was all placement and power from the former Ajaz man.
Ziyech got a free run at the Spurs defence and with Timo Werner creating space for him with a clever dummy run to the right, the Moroccan clinically found the bottom right corner.
Chelsea who went into halftime leading by a goal added another in the second half – and it was Ziyech once again who found himself in the right place at the right time.
When Timo Werner found Marcos Alonso on an overlapping run around Spurs’ left flank, the Spanish full-back won the ball back with a sliding tackle inside the opponent’s penalty area – and the ball, fortunately, fell to Ziyech on his left foot.
Ziyech’s finish into the bottom right corner past Pierluigi Gollini was a thing of beauty once again, as his calm, clinical ability came to the forefront once again.
The Moroccan had previously scored a hat-trick in Chelsea’s behind-closed-doors pre-season outing against Peterborough United, and yesterday’s brace gets his pre-season tally up to five.
After securing a transfer from Ajax last year, Ziyech could not make as much of an impression as he would have wanted to, but he scored important goals throughout the season nonetheless – against the likes of Man City and Atlético Madrid, and hence is likely to get a second shot for Thomas Tuchel this season.
And he certainly has done full justice to the game time that he has got in pre-season so far.
