Chelsea will play Club America in a pre-season friendly on Sunday morning.
The fixture will be Chelsea's first pre-season match this summer. The match against Club America will be played in the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
N'Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus Cheek didn't make the trip due to vaccinations. With Kante and Loftus-Cheek absent, Tuchel will only have two midfielders in Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho, that finished the season with the squad after Saul Niguez returned to his parent club Atletico Madrid. This offers a great opportunity to the likes of Billy Gilmour, Ethan Ampadu and Conor Gallagher.
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Chelsea flew to America last weekend with a 29-man squad and have been joined by new summer signing Raheem Sterling, who could be in line for a potential debut for the side. Armando Broja has also joined the squad, making it a now 31-man squad for Tuchel to pick from.
There are likely to be plenty of substitutions to ensure everyone gets their required playing time but the Blues have already been hit by injury with Armando Broja out of training since arriving in the USA. Tuchel explained: "He had a little accident yesterday in training with the ball control and landed in a funny way on his ankle and Achilles. 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."
Levi Colwill was not present in the open training session that followed, while Kalidou Koulibaly only recently signed. Raheem Sterling is yet to train every minute but Tuchel conceded is yet to decide his team. Here's how our football.london writers think Chelsea should line up.
Anita Abayomi
3-4-3: Mendy; Chalobah, Ampadu, Colwill; James, Gallagher, Jorginho, Chilwell; Sterling, Hudson-Odoi, Werner.
Who doesn't want to see Levi Colwill get a chance to play in the Chelsea first team? It's a no-brainer to have him in the starting lineup alongside Ethan Ampadu providing he is fit. The Blues are currently short of centre-backs anyway, so why not give them a chance to impress the coach?
I would love to see Chilwell in full action as it has been almost a year since I've seen those scenes. A breath of fresh air on that left-hand side would reinstall the confidence that he is fully fit and ready for the season. Gallagher is also a no-brainer. Fans like me have been waiting for the day he appears in Chelsea blue, and the time is now. Put us out of our misery.
As far as exciting attacks go, it doesn't get more exciting than Werner, Hudson-Odoi, and Sterling. The pace between the three is already an exciting entity, and it'll be great to see how fluid the attack could be with those three at the helm.
Daniel Childs
4-3-3: Mendy; James, Chalobah, Silva, Chilwell; Ampadu, Gallagher, Kovacic; CHO, Havertz, Mount
I find it highly unlikely Tuchel changes formation from game one, but the whispers of it over the course of the new season is intriguing. Levi Colwill, Ethan Ampadu, Conor Gallagher, Armando Broja and Harvey Vale could all remain a part of the first-team squad and add value.
Moving to a midfield trio benefits Gallagher as an attacking midfielder whilst Ampadu has the versatility to play as a defensive midfielder and even slot into a central defensive one between Chalobah and Colwill.
It is a shame that Colwill and Broja look to be out of this game but would still be excited to see Ampadu and Gallagher get good minutes here, whilst a change in formation to 4-3-3. And hopefully a small cameo for Sterling.
Scott Trotter
3-4-3: Kepa; Chalobah, Ampadu, Sarr; James, Jorginho, Barkley, Chilwell; Ziyech, Hudson-Odoi, Havertz
For me, where possible, Tuchel is likely to give the most minutes to players who have been training from the very first week of pre-season. A lot of those options come in the same positions so unfortunately it could leave Tino Anjorin and Harvey Vale missing out to Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi. The latter looks a different prospect physically this summer, so to see how that translates to the pitch will be fascinating.
Levi Colwill's absence from training sees him miss out the team and provides an opportunity for the likes of Ethan Ampadu but Thiago Silva could as easily drop, but Tuchel may prefer greater time to watch the Welshman to assess his ability.
The German coach is short of options up front with Kai Havertz, Michy Batshuayi and Timo Werner all only having trained for the last week, and Armando Broja's injury will keep him out of the clash amid interest from West Ham.
Hopefully the game will provide plenty of opportunities to Chelsea's fringe stars as many return from loan for the first true opportunity under Tuchel.
Let us know in the comments section what team you would like Thomas Tuchel to pick tonight.
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