Chelsea face Charlotte FC in their second game of pre-season on Thursday morning (UK) as they head to North Carolina.
Thomas Tuchel’s side opened up their 2022 pre-season schedule with a 2-1 win over Club America in Las Vegas, which saw Timo Werner and a late stunner from Mason Mount ensure Reece James’ blushes were spared following an own goal.
Chelsea have trimmed their squad down since leaving Las Vegas. Tino Anjorin, Harvey Vale and Billy Gilmour have departed to the Development squad, while Armando Broja has flown back to England following injury and talks with West Ham over a transfer this summer.
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The Blues head coach admitted: “It is never easy and I did not like to do it because everybody deserves to stay with the squad,‘but we have a very big squad already and then players came additionally and some other players like Mateo Kovacic are now fit to train with the group again.”
“It is a very difficult decision because nobody deserves to go,” added Tuchel.
“I would have loved to have everybody here because Tino, Harvey and Billy have trained on a very high level and it would have been also nice to see them in some matches, but in the end we had to take the decision to keep the quality up high in training so we decided on 24 players as a maximum. That is why we made the group a bit smaller.”
Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly didn’t feature in the opener. Sterling will make his first appearance, while a decision on Koulibaly's involvement has yet to be decided.
"It is not decided yet,” Tuchel admitted on Koulibaly. “We have one more training session before we travel to Charlotte. Then it is all about the next steps. It's always like this, the focus is on our team.
"I don't want to rule it out but it is very likely he will not play tomorrow.
"We will focus a bit more on tactical issues. The focus was on the physical input against Club America."
On Sterling, he added: "He is absolutely ready to go. He will be on the pitch tomorrow. He is excited to play."
Mateo Kovacic and Levi Colwill could get their first minutes of pre-season after missing last time out due to not being fit.
Charlotte FC are in the middle of their MLS season in the Eastern Conference, currently sitting in eighth, and lost at the weekend in a 3-2 defeat to Inter Miami.
However, prior to the defeat, they had won their last two league outings.
They will offer a similar fitness test to Club America with Chelsea looking to build up their match sharpness ahead of the season getting underway in a couple of weeks.
When is the match?
It will take place on Thursday 21st July at 12.30am (UK) time.
Where is the match?
The pre-season friendly will be held at the Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina.
How can I watch the match?
The fixture will be available to watch on the official Chelsea website, as well as the club’s 5th Stand App.
Matthew Debono