Chelsea head to North Carolina for their second game of pre-season to face Charlotte FC, and all the details of how to watch the friendly have been revealed.
It was a win for the Blues in their opener against Club America at the weekend in Las Vegas to kick off their pre-season preparations with a victory, courtesy of second half goals from Timo Werner and Mason Mount to seal a 2-1 win over the Liga MX side.
Thomas Tuchel opted for a first and second half XI, utilising 22 of the Chelsea team having taken out an initial 29-man squad.
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New arrivals Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly didn’t feature, but could make their first appearances in North Carolina.
Armando Broja, Harvey Vale, Tino Anjorin and Billy Gilmour are no longer with the squad which has seen the squad numbers reduce to 27.
Charlotte FC are Chelsea’s opponents as they fly from their base in Orlando to Charlotte, and just like Club America, they are well underway in their domestic season.
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They are currently managed by Christian Lattanzio, who is in interim charge, after Miguel Ángel Ramírez was relieved of his duties at the end of May.
Tuchel has been delighted with the atmosphere within the Chelsea camp during their tour of the United States, despite the changing of timezones, and continued to praise his ambitious squad.
He told the official Chelsea website: “It’s very challenging. Changing the third time our time zone. Totally different feeling of temperature, very, very demanding Players are struggling with the heat.
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“We give maybe more time, space, time to drink, more breaks. We cannot hide from the fact we are in pre-season and have to somehow put time in our legs. We don’t adapt!”
The Chelsea boss added: “We are very happy. We have a very strong, hardworking, very nice group of players. They like to be with each other. They are very ambitious. It is very nice to be around them. It’s a long time now we are together and still there’s a whole week to go. It’s a very nice group of characters so we are very happy.”
“For me that’s very important. It’s the foundation to push yourself. The level of respect, ambition, the level you can leave your ego in the dressing room or even in hotel. Maybe you don’t have one! This is very important to build a strong group. Football is and always will be a team sport. For this you need a certain atmosphere and this is what we try to create. The combination with the staff is very ambitious but respectful.”
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Looking ahead to the first fixture against Charlotte FC, here are all the details on how to watch the encounter on Thursday 21st July (UK).
Kick-Off Times
United Kingdom
12:30 BST
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United Arab Emirates
03:30 GST
United States of America (Wednesday 20th July)
Eastern time: 19:30 EDT
Pacific time: 16:30 PDT
How To Watch
The game will be available to watch live on the club’s official website, as well as Chelsea’s 5th Stand App.
Matthew Debono