Chelsea face Club America in their first pre-season outing and the confirmed team news is in from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Thomas Tuchel's side open their pre-season schedule against the Mexican outfit, who are managed by Fernando Ortiz, in their week-long United States tour as they participate in the FC Series.
Club America are already underway in their 2022/23 season, having played three games - W1, D1, L1 - while Chelsea are just beginning their preparations ahead of their Premier League opener in three weeks time against Everton.
Thomas Tuchel is expecting an intense battle against the Liga MX side, admitting in his pre-match press conference: "I don't have a full overview of the Mexican league to be very honest, but of course now we analyse this opponent.
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“At this moment in pre-season it's also the moment to focus on us and give our players and our situation the full support and the full focus.
“Club America’s league is playing already so they are in a different physical situation than us and normally they're a very physical, very aggressive team. Let's see with big names and big personalities how this will work out but we expect an intense match.”
Here is the confirmed team news from Las Vegas as Chelsea take Club America.
Chelsea
Starting XI: Kepa, Chalobah, Silva, Sarr, Hudson-Odoi, Barkley, Gallagher, Chilwell, Ziyech, Havertz, Kenedy
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Bench: Bettinelli, Alonso, Ampadu, Azpilicueta, James, Mount, Pulisic, Batshuayi, Werner
Club America
Starting XI: Ochoa, Sanchez, Valdez, Caceres, Reyes, Aquino, Dos Santos, Damm, Fidalgo, Layun, Martin
Bench: Jimenez, Sanchez, S. Martinez, Araujo, Campos, Fuentes, R. Martinez, Moreno, Lara, Valdes, Zendejas, Rodriguez
Armando Broja is ruled out for the Blues after suffering an injury during training, while Raheem Sterling will have to wait for his first Chelsea appearance after Thomas Tuchel admitted earlier this week that he wasn't quite ready for match minutes.
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Thiago Silva captains Chelsea at the back, and is joined alongside Malang Sarr and Trevoh Chalobah.
Kepa Arrizabalaga begins in goal, while Marcus Bettinelli is on the bench.
Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech are in attack with Kenedy. Conor Gallagher, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ross Barkley all also get the nod, as does Ben Chilwell.
Christian Pulisic starts on the bench. It's a strong substitutes bench for Tuchel, with Mason Mount, Reece James and Timo Werner all named.
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Billy Gilmour, Harvey Vale, Tino Anjorin and Edouard Mendy are four not involved in the matchday squad, as well as Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Armando Broja. Mateo Kovacic and Levi Colwill also miss out.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter / FC Series
