Chelsea are back in pre-season action once again and this time they will be contesting a west London derby against Fulham in the capital of the USA rather than England.
This match is part of the inaugural Premier League Summer Series, a pre-season friendly tournament on the other side of the Atlantic between six top-flight clubs. Both Chelsea and Fulham have played two games so far with mixed results.
There will be some bragging rights on the line and also plenty of new players that both sets of supporters will want to see in action.
Here’s everything you need to know about the latest friendly for fans to overanalyse.
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Chelsea vs Fulham H2H record (Last Five Competitive Games)
|
Country |
TV channel / Live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Ultra HD, Sky Sports Premier League, SKY GO Extra |
|
United States |
Peacock, NBC |
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Canada |
fuboTV Canada |
Even after the fire sale in June, Mauricio Pochettino has a lot of players to choose from at Chelsea. He is expected to have his entire tour squad available to choose from for the game against Fulham, and Nicolas Jackson should get the chance to continue as the main striker.
The former Villarreal forward started the last game against Newcastle United and scored after 12 minutes in what turned out to be a 1-1 draw. He also scored in the first game of the series against Brighton, a 4-3 win which saw Christopher Nkunku, Mykhailo Mudryk and Conor Gallagher also find the net.
Chelsea predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): Kepa; Gusto, Chalobah, Silva, Cucurella; Fernandez, Chukwuemeka; Dos Santos, Nkunku, Mudryk; Jackson
There are a couple of fairly notable absences for Fulham thanks to a couple of different reasons. Joao Palhinha will miss out due to a shoulder injury that he has not recovered from yet, whilst Aleksandar Mitrovic is not going to be involved due to the ongoing transfer speculation.
He could be on the move to Saudi Arabia, whilst head coach Marco Silva has been the subject of serious Middle Eastern interest. It has not been the smoothest pre-season for Fulham in this regard.
Fulham predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete, De Fougerolles, Diop, Mbabu; Reed, Lukic; Wilson, Cairney, Reid; Vinicius
Considering the disruption that Fulham have been facing throughout this summer, it is hard to imagine them being in a position to get much of a result here against Chelsea, especially without two of their key figures running through the spine of the team.
Chelsea have got a lot of players who are really desperate to show their new manager why they should be starting when the Premier League season rolls around. The likes of Jackson and Nkunku are performing well in pre-season and should keep that going in Washington against Fulham.
Prediction: Chelsea 3-1 Fulham
