Thomas Tuchel has confirmed the Chelsea team news to face Club America in their first game of their 2022 pre-season schedule.
Chelsea take on the Mexican side in their first of three games in the United States and head to Las Vegas to play the Liga MX outfit at the Allegiant Stadium.
Plenty of minutes are expected to be shared around during their tour of America over the next week as the Blues head to Charlotte and Orlando once they’ve played Club America.
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It was already known that Ruben Loftus-Cheek and N’Golo Kante wouldn’t be involved after they didn’t travel with the squad across the Atlantic due to their Covid vaccination status.
They featured in the club’s U23 4-2 win over Boreham Wood on Friday evening, building up match fitness ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.
"It would be much better if they were here. Can we force them to vaccinate? No, it's a personal decision. It's a decision most of people take,” admitted head Thomas Tuchel during their training camp in Los Angeles.
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"It seems that it's a decision that belongs to our lives now, and still it's their right to not do it. It does not help us as a team and them as professional football players. But we have to respect them.
"I simply refuse to point the finger and blame them, because this is not how we interact here at Chelsea.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea confirmed their first two signings of the summer prior to the Club America fixture. Raheem Sterling joined from Manchester City, while Kalidou Koulibaly arrived from Napoli.
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Sterling has been training for several days, while Koulibaly flew into Las Vegas to meet the squad on Friday evening.
Despite Sterling training, Tuchel has confirmed he is unlikely to feature, while Koulibaly won’t be involved.
Tuchel admitted: “For Raheem, we have not decided the line up but he did not train every minute with the team so it is not very likely that he will play."
Armando Broja picked up an injury during training and is now receiving treatment, which will put him out of the friendly.
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"He had a little accident yesterday in training with the ball control and landed in a funny way on his ankle and Achilles,” confirmed the Chelsea head coach.
“He is in pain but nothing is injured – we did the examinations and it's just pain. He is lucky that he did not get injured. We are lucky and happy that he did not injure himself.
"He is not in training and he is in treatment, Armando.”
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The Blues trained inside the Allegiant Stadium on Friday, but Levi Colwill wasn’t seen with the group. The reason for his absence remains unknown, while Mateo Kovacic did work away from the main group.
Changes are likely to be made constantly throughout the game, but the starting XI is a guessing game.
Topics: Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea, Raheem Sterling, Armando Broja
Matthew Debono