An early Christopher Nkunku penalty and a first Blues goal for Marc Guiu midway through the first half gave us a healthy lead at the break but it wasn't a true reflection of just how dominant Chelsea were in the opening 45 minutes.

The Blues had produced the most impressive half so far under Maresca at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and even though Club America managed to reduce the onslaught following the restart, the Blues still added another penalty in the second period, this time through Noni Madueke.

New signings involved

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was brought into the midfield for his first outing in the Blue of Chelsea following his return to full fitness.

The 25-year-old was one of four changes to the starting line-up against Celtic, as Tosin Adarabioyo returned at centre-back, Malo Gusto started left-back and Raheem Sterling came into the side on the left flank.

So far under Maresca, we have seen the right-back invert into a defensive midfield position when in possession. But the selection of Gusto at left-back saw it switch flanks on Wednesday night, as the Frenchman stepped in alongside Romeo Lavia when we had the ball.

Early goal

Lavia has started all three matches under Maresca, with the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo previously unavailable. And the 20-year-old made a big impact early on, as inside the opening two minutes, he turned an opposition player wide right following a half-clearance and after beating another defender, the midfielder was brought down in the penalty box.

Nkunku stepped up and sent the ball down the middle of the goal to make it 1-0 after just three minutes.

More good play from Lavia led to Dewsbury-Hall releasing Marc Guiu soon after but the young striker's shot from 12 yards was too tame and easily saved.

There was nothing routine about the stop Robert Sanchez had to make moments later when he had to tip away a long-range curling effort which was set for the top corner.

Dewsbury-Hall's familiarity of Maresca's system was contributing to him routinely picking up dangerous positions and he had two wayward efforts in a matter of minutes where he would have expected to have hit the target.

Maiden goal

But the midfielder's good work finally paid off midway through the half when Sterling slid the ball through to Dewsbury-Hall and his little chip cross to the near post was headed in by Guiu, with the recovering defender only able to help the ball on its way to the back of the net.

Chelsea were starting to carve Club America open with regularity. Both Noni Madueke and Sterling had dangerous dribbles into the box which almost led to goals and the Mexican champions needed a last-gasp block by a defender to deny Dewsbury-Hall a goal after some more slick football from the Blues and a pull-back from the byline by Nkunku.

It was wave-after-wave of attacks from Chelsea as half-time approached and we should have had a third goal when Nkunku cleverly released Madueke on the right wing and he once again got to the byline and pulled the ball back. Dewsbury-Hall slipped as he attempted to get on the end of it but Sterling was there and had a goal-bound shot blocked, before Gusto dragged the follow-up wide of the far post.

Club America could have gone into the break level though as Javairo Dilrosun found enough space on the left-side of the penalty area to curl a shot against the crossbar.

Chelsea's impressive attacking play continued and Madueke and Nkunku linked up once more, this time the Frenchman forcing Luis Angel Malagon into a good save at his near post.

Half-time saw the arrival of new signing Filip Jorgensen and the return of Enzo Fernandez in place of Sanchez and Dewsbury-Hall.

Club America managed to restore more parity in the second period, with a Lavia shot the only save Malagon had to make in the opening quarter of an hour of the second half.

There were a host of new additions just after the hour and one of those, Armando Broja, saw a deflected shot tipped over the bar shortly after his arrival.

Broja missed a glorious chance to add a third when put through one-on-one by Madueke, but his shot went wide.

The third goal did arrive with just over ten minutes remaining though when another dangerous run from Nkunku saw the Frenchman brought down in the penalty box and this time, Madueke stepped up to chip his spot-kick impressively into the top corner.

Club America would have grabbed a consolation goal had it not been for two impressive last-ditch interventions in a matter of seconds from substitute Ben Chilwell to ensure Jorgensen finished his first outing in Blue with a clean sheet.

Next up

Chelsea's focus now turns to Saturday's match against Manchester City at Ohio Stadium, with general tickets still available here and Club Chelsea packages available here.

You can also watch it on the official Chelsea website and app for £4.99. Learn more here.

The teams

Chelsea's starting XI: 1 Robert Sanchez; 24 Reece James (C), 5 Benoit Badiashile, 4 Tosin Adarabioyo, 27 Malo Gusto; 45 Romeo Lavia, 22 Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, 18 Christopher Nkunku; 11 Noni Madueke, 38 Marc Guiu, 7 Raheem Sterling

Substitutes: 12 Filip Jorgensen for Sanchez 46, 8 Enzo Fernandez for Dewsbury-Hall 46, 10 Mykhailo Mudryk for Sterling 63, 29 Wesley Fofana for Badiashile 63, 19 Armando Broja for Guiu 63, 16 Lesley Ugochukwu for Lavia 63, 40 Renato Veiga for James 63, 21 Ben Chilwell for Gusto 71, 41 Angelo for Nkunku 83, 32 Tyrique George for Madueke 83

Unused substitutes: 13 Marcus Bettinelli, 47 Lucas Bergstrom, 50 Eddie Beach, 34 Josh Acheampong, 17 Carney Chukwuemeka

Goals: Nkunku 3 (pen), Guiu 21, Madueke 79

Bookings: Lavia 23, Nkunku 66, Madueke 90

Club America's starting XI: 1 Luis Angel Malagon, 3 Israel Reyes, 14 Nestor Araujo, 31 Igor Lichnovsky, 18 Cristian Calderon, 6 Jonathan Dos Santos, 20 Richard Sanchez, 28 Erick Sanchez, 7 Brian Rodriguez, 24 Javairo Dilrosun, 21 Henry Martin (C)

Substitutes: 30 Rodolfo Cota, 12 Jonathan Estrada, 4 Sebastian Caceres, 29 Ramon Juarez, 32 Miguel Vazquez, 197 Dagoberto Espinoza, 26 Cristian Borja, 13 Alan Cervantes, 15 Ivan Rodriguez, 8 Alvaro Fidalgo, 10 Diego Valdes, 27 Rodrigo Aguirre, 19 Illian Hernandez, 23 Emilio Lara