Chelsea vs. Manchester City, Preseason Friendly: Preview, team news, how to watch

Three games down, three games to go in this very busy preseason, which has already caused head coach Enzo Maresca to lament the team’s workload. And we’ve not even kicked a ball in anger! But with European football back on the menu (assuming we qualify for the Europa Conference group stage proper), we better get used to it.

And speaking of getting used to things: Chelsea looked a lot better on Wednesday than we had in our first two friendlies, showing some marked improvements in executing Maresca’s tactical system. But tests don’t come much tougher than Manchester City, preseason or no preseason, who play a variation of this system and have played it at the highest level for many a season now.

So, focus on fitness and execution. And also a preview for our first Premier League match coming up in a little over two weeks. Almost exciting!

Date / Time: Saturday, August 3, 2024, 5:30pm EDT; 22:30 BST; 3am IST (next day)
Venue: Ohio Stadium a.k.a. The Horseshoe (at Ohio State University); Columbus, OH, USA
Forecast: hot and humid, chance of thunderstorm

On TV: ESPN, ESPN Deportes (USA); none (UK); elsewhere
Streaming: ESPN+ (USA); Chelsea TV (int’l pay-per-view)

Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Chelsea team news: Nicolas Jackson looks ready to make his preseason debut after recovering from the ankle injury he picked up at the start of the summer, and Moisés Caicedo and Axel Disasi could be close as well.

On the flip side, Malo Gusto, Christopher Nkunku, and Benoît Badiashile were all dealing with cramps in our previous match, which could mean a reduction in workload for them — just like Levi Colwill did by sitting out Wednesday’s game. Thankfully, we’ve managed to avoid any new injuries so far this preseason, knock on wood or a bald head.

Andrey Santos has left the tour to begin his season-long loan at RC Strasbourg.

Photo by Eston Parker/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Manchester City team news: The defending champions have yet to win a game this preseason, losing to Celtic (3-4) and AC Milan (2-3), and drawing with Barcelona midweek (2-2). But friendlies hit different when you’re back-to-back-to-back-to-back champions with the longest serving manager in the Premier League (and second longest in all of English professional football) — not to mention playing with a hardly recognizable squad of youth and fringe players.

“Normally we come here with 80% of the first team, this time we are here with 20% so it’s a big difference. The players deserve their holidays.”

-Pep Guardiola; source: Manchester City FC

Still, with this being their final preparatory match before next weekend’s Community Shield against Manchester United, Guardiola will surely not want one of his protégés to show him up — preseason or not.

Erling Haaland, one of the few first-team stars on tour, was forced off halfway through their last game with a muscular injury. He’s said to be okay, though they obviously will be very, very careful with him.

Previously: The last time we played City in a non-competitive match was way back in 2013, when we had that series of two post-season(!) friendlies in the States. Meanwhile, we still haven’t beaten City since the 2021 Champions League final.