July 27, 2021- 4:50 p.m.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Chelsea’s second official pre-season friendly of the summer as the Blues travel to the south coast to take on Bournemouth.
For supporters, it will be the first chance to see Thomas Tuchel’s makeshift squad in action. Chelsea’s first warm-up game was a behind-closed-doors victory over Peterborough while a friendly against Drogheda United scheduled to be played in Ireland last week was cancelled after one of the Blues’ players tested positive for Covid-19.
Chelsea ended up playing an intra-squad game instead last Wednesday, which ended 1-1. But that would’ve lacked the natural competitive edge of facing unfamiliar opposition.
That will not be the case tonight. Pre-season or not, Bournemouth will be looking to once again take the scalp of Chelsea. The Blues will certainly be pushed hard.
football.london has been told it’s very unlikely the players who returned to pre-season training on Saturday, including N’Golo Kante, Kurt Zouma, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Antonio Rudiger and Mateo Kovacic, feature at the Vitality Stadium.
So the friendly will be an opportunity for several players to try to catch Tuchel’s eye and remain in the first-team picture for the remainder of pre-season
Our Chelsea correspondents Adam Newson and Sam Inkersole are covering the match with all the action from inside the stadium and reaction from the supporters and media.
