Chelsea vs Club America: Expect a strong starting XI

After a challenging summer where Chelsea faced a change in ownership and the high profile exits of Bruce Buck, Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia, the Blues find themselves making minimal progress with signings thus far. The club has officially made just one signing to this point with Raheem Sterling being announced earlier in the week. Kalidou Koulibaly is expected to be unveiled as a Chelsea player imminently, as well. However, preseason has now arrived and it’s time for Thomas Tuchel to go wild and experiment with the returning loanees he’s got at his disposal right now. The fans seem to be exhilarated to get glimpses of budding stars such as Ethan Ampadu, Tino Anjorin, Levi Colwill, Conor Gallagher, Billy Gilmour and many more.

Sadly, Ian Maatsen and Dujon Sterling have not been picked for the tour, with the former heading to Burnley on a season-long loan. The midfield duo of N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will also miss the tour due to their vaccination status. Chelsea has confirmed a 29-man travelling squad, which also includes the two current academy stars, Teddy Sharman-Lowe and Harvey Vale.  Armando Broja is also expected to join the squad in the near future. The recently acquired and aforementioned Sterling has already joined up with his new teammates for training too.

The upcoming preseason gives Tuchel the perfect platform to listen to the fans’ calsl and experiment with a back four, which will help Chelsea reconsider its predictable approach, tempo and method of attack. This might help the Blues unveil some unexpected options—like Trevoh Chalobah—in 2021. Chelsea kicks off its season on Saturday with a game in the famous Las Vegas against Club America. Given the season is a number of weeks away, we can expect a strong starting XI from Tuchel.

Here is who this author believes will start the match in the desert (4-2-3-1):