Arsenal Friendly Likely To Spell End Of Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea Rotation Policy To Build Match Sharpness

Thomas Tuchel will oversee Chelsea’s third game of pre-season against Arsenal in Orlando, which will also be their final fixture of their United States tour before they head back to London. 

So far, it has been a mixed bag of results. One win and one defeat (on penalties) for Chelsea, and they will want to end the Stateside tour on a high by claiming a win against their city counterparts. 

In the two fixtures so far, Tuchel’s approach has been all about building the squad’s minutes and fitness. 

The 48-year-old has selected four different XI’s for the four halves of football that Chelsea have played in America, other than Edouard Mendy playing the full 90 minutes in North Carolina against Charlotte FC. 

They lacked some numbers against Charlotte FC due to Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cesar Azpilicueta, Ross Barkley and Timo Werner missing through injury. 

Azpilicueta and Werner were back in training ahead of the game, with the other two and Levi Colwill absent. 

Players, even if fringe and likely to leave this summer, have been given chances to impress Tuchel, some of whom have taken the opportunity more than others. 

However, the rotation looks set to be dropped against Arsenal. This will be their third and penultimate game of their 2022 pre-season schedule. 

Chelsea will play one more game after the Gunners, heading to Italy next Friday to face Serie A side Udinese in their last game of pre-season. 

Once the game has finished, that will be it in terms of match preparation until their Premier League opener against Everton at Goodison Park on 6 August. 

With that in mind, it should see the two teams per game come to an end against Mikel Arteta’s side, who have played one extra game to the Blues. 

Members of the Chelsea squad should be given at least 60 minutes to increase their match sharpness in their build up to being 100 per cent match fit for the start of the new season. 

The likes of Thiago Silva, Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Jorginho, Mason Mount and Kai Havertz will be keen to be given that chance of playing more than 45 minutes in Orlando, with them all likely to play prominent roles in the side next term. 

Raheem Sterling had a 45 minute run out and is likely to expect the same at the minimum against Arsenal.

While Kalidou Koulibaly is in line to make his first appearance for the club since joining from Napoli. 

Tuchel wants to see a reaction from the Charlotte defeat after hitting out at the lack of effort in the second half, and that could be helped by the players having more than 45 minutes to get up to speed before starting to find their rhythm.