Chelsea moved their training camp to Orlando, Florida for the rest of the US tour but will travel to North Carolina to play local club Charlotte. Charlotte was founded in 2019 and they are one of the younger franchises in MLS, the club plays at the Bank of America Stadium. Chelsea go into this game having won their first pre-season game against Club América 2-1 in Las Vegas.
The last game saw Thomas Tuchel stick with the 3-4-3 formation but I would like us to test out some version of a back four in this game. There were some bright performances from Conor Gallagher, and Ethan Ampadu in the last game who are both looking to book a place in the squad for next season. Hopefully they continue their performances and we see Ampadu play in a defensive midfield role.
Apart from that a few players are rumoured to be leaving the club permanently like Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso while incomings are also possible. Like I said in the previous article pre-season is about two things; fitness and a chance for returning loanees and youth players to impress the manager. This squad will get cut down and changed a couple more times before the season starts.
Chelsea Team Preview
Billy Gilmour, Harvey Vale, and Tino Anjorin have joined the U-23 squad in Salt Lake City because Tuchel wants to give everyone game time. The likes of Kenedy and Batshuayi are still around who occupy space so the three younger players are better suited to at least start games. Barkley is out injured while Koulibaly has trained but there are doubts whether he features. Sterling is ready and should get minutes in this game. I expect two separate XI’s once again but it will be interesting to see what Tuchel does. Kovacic is also back and how will he fit in wingers along with Mount, Jorginho and Kovacic? Hopefully a formation change.
Colwill has also trained and hopefully he gets minutes because the only way he can back the hype around him is if he shows it on the pitch. The same goes for Hudson-Odoi but for him its more of now or never situation. Callum will be heading into his fifth season as a first team player and all we have heard is how he is fit and brilliant in training. In the last game I forgot he was on the pitch and players like Ziyech, Werner, and Pulisic were all lively.
Starting XI Prediction
The above lineup is more just something I would like to see tried out. Kovacic, Koulibaly, Silva, Jorginho etc could all switch positions in this lineup. I expect Azpilicueta to also feature with his rumoured departure close and it would be a farewell game of sorts. Seeing Sterling play for the first time will be exciting and hopefully there are small signs of linkup with Havertz if the two start together.
An exciting game, an awful time if you are in India with the game at 05:00 am but it is what it is. COME ON CHELSEA!!!