Chelsea pre-season preview: Opening games, transfer plans and more

Chelsea: Opening games

Chelsea’s season kicks off three days before their Premier League rivals, with a Super Cup tie against Villarreal set to take place in Belfast. The chance at winning another trophy is a precious one and can set the tone for Thomas Tuchel’s first full season at the club.

It also provides the club an opportunity to right the wrongs of their past. The campaign following Chelsea’s Champions League win in 2012 was a dismal one, with the Blues losing both the Super Cup and the Club World Cup Final.

Tuchel’s team begins their league campaign three days after their Super Cup meeting with Villarreal. The Blues will face Crystal Palace on opening day, potentially with Lucien Favre in the dugout for the latter, before traveling to Arsenal and Liverpool on consecutive matchdays.

A difficult August will give way to an equally tough September, with Chelsea scheduled to face Aston Villa, Tottenham, and Manchester City. In the midst of all that, the Champions League winners will also learn their opponents for the 2021/22 group stage of the competition and will play their first match of the competition on either September 14 or 15.

Nothing yet suggests that Tuchel will drastically alter the system that won him the Champions League. Combine that with a lack of new arrivals, and we could see the Blues line up the same way as they did against Manchester City in Porto. The Euro, however, may play a part in players’ fatigue levels, depending upon which teams go deep in the competition.

A realistic target for Chelsea, given their difficult start to the season, should be 12 points out of a possible 18 and a place in the top four by the end of September. That should set them up nicely for the packed months of October, November, and December before reprieve finally arrives in January.

Chelsea is expected to approach the new season in an orderly manner – anything else is hardly ever the case. However, for a club that thrives on the opposite, it remains a matter of when not if before things descend into chaos. That’s when we’ll see the best of the Blues.