Emery banks on Chelsea hangover

BELFAST • Chelsea will aim to start the new season as they ended the last with silverware when the European champions face Europa League winners Villarreal in the Uefa Super Cup in Belfast today.

Thomas Tuchel's stunning impact since taking charge of the Blues in January has raised expectations for Chelsea to challenge in all competitions this season, particularly with Romelu Lukaku on the verge of returning to Stamford Bridge for a club-record fee of £97 million (S$182.5 million).

Tuchel's men beat Manchester City to lift the Champions League in May, just four months after the German replaced the sacked Frank Lampard with Chelsea languishing in ninth in the Premier League.

The victory in Porto was the Blues' third over City in six weeks towards the end of the season and they now have the goal of dethroning Pep Guardiola's side as English champions - 2016-17 was their last Premier League title success.

"We want to win, we want to compete and of course we want to be successful," said Tuchel ahead of his side's return to competitive action in Northern Ireland.

"This is in Chelsea's nature and of course, we are up for the challenge. We will try to compete for every title in every competition we enter but I also think it will be a huge step forward if we can maintain the same quality, attitude and effort that we showed last season."

While many of Europe's traditional giants have been squeezed by the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the backing of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has again allowed Chelsea to strengthen.

A £220 million spending spree last summer - more than any other European club - was rewarded with Champions League glory. Now Lukaku looks set to return for more than three times the amount he was sold seven years ago to provide the missing piece of a proven goalscorer.

The Belgium striker failed to score a goal in three years with Chelsea - although two of those seasons were spent out on loan - before leaving in 2014. However, the 28-year-old has since become one of the elite forwards, scoring 24 goals in 36 Serie A games last term as he led Inter Milan to their first Scudetto since 2010.

Lukaku's move should be completed before Chelsea's Premier League opener against Crystal Palace on Saturday, but he will not be registered in time to face Villarreal.

Instead, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz will be tasked with starting their second season better than they did their first. After a slow start, Havertz came good on his £71 million price tag with the winning goal in the Champions League final.

The 22-year-old was also one of few star performers for Germany at a disappointing Euro 2020 and he is aiming to "win more" as "the Champions League title is not enough for us".

While Chelsea have become accustomed to lifting trophies on an annual basis in nearly two decades since Abramovich took charge, Villarreal are aiming to back up their first piece of silverware when they beat Manchester United on penalties in Gdansk.

Unai Emery has now won the Europa League four times after his three successes with Sevilla but never won the Super Cup.

The former Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain coach feels that Chelsea can have claims to being "the best team in the world" this season, but is hopeful they suffer a Euro 2020 hangover with several key players just back in pre-season training.

"Chelsea have Italian and English internationals who haven't arrived back until this week. Their starting line-up will not be the same as the Champions League final," said the Spaniard. "Hopefully, they misfire from the start."

A crowd of 13,000 will fill 70 per cent of Windsor Park today.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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