SAITAMA • Frank Lampard has told his Chelsea players that they will need to be "fit and ready" to face Manchester United when the new English Premier League season kicks off in a little more than two weeks.
Goals from Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley saw the Blues grab a 2-1 win against Barcelona in a pre-season friendly in Japan yesterday.
The victory was a far better result than the 1-0 loss to J1 champions Kawasaki Frontale last Friday.
"It's been a good tour and it's always good to come to Japan. Most importantly it is work and both games have been good exercises for us," said the 41-year-old Lampard, who was appointed earlier this month.
"What I've learnt about the players is that they are a good group. I'm very happy.
"In terms of the workload, the players have to get used to it now. I've set the standard of how I want them to work.
"We've had two difficult games in humidity. The tour has served its purpose. We need to be fit and ready for Manchester United (on Aug 11), and the clock runs down pretty quickly at this stage. Now we just have to keep working."
Abraham, 21, opened the scoring in the 34th minute after an uncharacteristic mistake by Barcelona's Sergio Busquets.
The Spaniard's attempt to play the ball was halted by Chelsea midfielder Jorginho applying pressure, and the ball rolled towards Abraham who stepped past onrushing goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to finish into an open net.
"Tammy's a goalscorer and he's hungry for goals. Now it's his time to prove it for Chelsea. To get his goal will put him in good stead," said Lampard of his striker, returning from a loan spell at promoted Aston Villa.
Four minutes later, Chelsea midfielder Christian Pulisic - the £58 million (S$98.5 million) signing from German side Borussia Dortmund - showed off his speed and footwork to infiltrate the Barca defence, but his left footer went just wide.
Chelsea made it 2-0 with less than 10 minutes left as midfielder Barkley picked up a cross outside the box and curled it beyond substitute goalkeeper Neto's reach inside his near post.
Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic netted a consolation goal for Barcelona in stoppage time with a rasping strike.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
