Chelsea v Leverkusen: line-up, statistics, overview, prediction

Chelsea in Leverkusen seen

Less than a month after defeating Paris Saint-Germain in the club World Cup final in New Jersey, Chelsea played her first pre-season game nine days before their first Premier League match.

Enzo Maresca sealed a return to the Champions League on the last day of his first season in charge and the Italian does not know how sharp his team will be during an unusual accumulation of the new campaign.

“The objective was right to allow players to recover,” said Maresca, including the host Crystal Palace team on August 17 (2:00 p.m. BST / 09:00 and / 06:00 pt). “It’s strange, it’s different and I really don’t know.

“I am curious because Palace started (preparing) the day after our end in the United States. We had three weeks off, now we have two friendly games in three days, then we will (start) the Premier League.

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“The atmosphere is much better because we have finished the strong season. This will give players more energy and more boost.

“We will see if we try difficult things in terms of tactics for the season. I could see, in the last two or three days, where we are physically. ”

Leverkusen won three consecutive friendly games under the direction of the former Manchester United manager, Erik Ten Hag, who succeeded Xabi Alonso after his extremely successful predecessor in Real Madrid.

Second distant from their defense of the title of Bundesliga last season, Ten Hag’s team followed a 2-0 victory in Bochum and a 2-1 victory in Fortuna Sittard by defeating Pisa 3-0 at La Bayarena on Tuesday.

“It was a very good game and we saw very good things,” said Ten Hag after his first non -competitive home game in charge, via Bild.

“We are a solid team. We have a very good base, but we have to improve. There are certain elements of the game on which we have to work.

“We have to get the right players; Not only the quantity but also the quality. And I came here to Leverkusen because I have a lot of confidence in the painting that they will bring the good players. ”

Ten Hag, which was dismissed by United last October, called the match against Chelsea “the most difficult test”.

“For the moment, we do not have the right team in terms of players,” added the Dutchman. “Chelsea has two changing rooms.”

Chelsea in Leverkusen Team News

Maresca said he was going to try to share minutes between all his players, but the blues were shaken with a serious knee injury for the first choice defender Levi Colwill.

“We have to wait and see,” he said. “We know how important Levi was last year. He was a main player for us. ”

Wesley Fofana, who was the central defender of Chelsea alongside Colwill at the beginning of 2024/25, is about to return from a long -term implementation.

“Wes is back and trains with us,” said Maresca. “I don’t think he is ready to get minutes in the next two games, but he can probably be ready for Palace, which is great news.”

Central defender Benoit Badiarshile and the Dario Essugo and Romeo Lavia fields also released, but new signatures, including attackers Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, the Ailiers Estevao and Jamie Gittens and the left back Jorrel Hato, could appear for the Stamford Bridge club for the first time.

Martin Terrier de Leverkusen has not yet returned from an Achilles tear that the French Foward suffered in January.

Edmond Tapsoba was sent against Pisa for a fault denying a clear score opportunity, but the central defender will not be suspended.

Ten Hag said he would have sent the striker Victor Boniface, who built his physical form, had not been dismissed Tapsoba.

The Brazilian right back Arthur is a doubt after being replaced by a blow against Pisa, but Piero Hincapie managed to return from injury to this match.

Colleague Defender Jarell Quansah could play his first match in England since he joined Leverkusen in Liverpool in July for a first £ at 30 million pounds sterling, while goalkeeper Mark Flekken should be back in London, having signed expected costs of about 7.8 million Brentford Sterling in July.

Strike Patrik Schick, who was part of the Double Winty Interior Interior Interior Team during the 2023/24 season, signed a new contract this week duration until 2030.

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Chelsea V Leverkusen Linkers expected

Chelsea Starting XI: Sanchez; Taste, Chabah, Colwill, Cucurella; James, Caicedo; Palmer, Fernandez, Pedro Neto; Joao Pedro

Leverkusen Start XI: Flekken; Tape, tapsoba, hincipie; Adli, Palacios, Andrich, Grimaldo; Maza, tella; Kofane

Is Chelsea V Leverkusen on television? Online stream online, channel

Friday kick-off is at 7:00 p.m. BST (2:00 p.m. and / 11:00 a.m. HE), with free live coverage in the United Kingdom on Channel 5, which is on Channel 105 on FreeView HD, Sky and Virgin Media.

The cover starts 30 minutes before kick -off, and the fans can look online and traveling on a wide variety of devices via the Channel 5 website and the 5 application.

5 will also show the house of Chelsea on Sunday against Milan, which starts at 3:00 p.m. BST / 12:00 and / 09:00 pt.

Dazn will broadcast the two live games in several regions of the world, with all the details available here.

Chelsea in Leverkusen Statistics

• The teams exchanged home victories during the group phase of the glorious 2011/12 campaign of the Chelsea Champions League, Leverkusen coming from behind to win 2-1 before the Blues won 2-0 the goals of David Luiz and Juan Mata.
• Chelsea won five successive games against European opponents since a home defeat 2-1 against Legia Warszawa on April 17, although they knew 4-2 in the total despite this result and won the conference league.
• They had won none of their five previous competitive games against the German opposition before a 2-0 home victory against Borussia Dortmund to reach the quarter-finals of the 2022/23 Champions League.
• The Maresca team has been undefeated in its last 10 home games in the Premier League for last season, winning eight of its last nine.
• Since a 2-0 defeat at home against Manchester City in his first game of last season, Chelsea scored 27 consecutive games in Stamford Bridge in all competitions.
• Thursday marked a year since the last visit of Leverkusen in London, losing a friendly 4-1 in Arsenal.
• Their 4-0 defeat in Liverpool in the group phase of the Champions League last season meant that Leverkusen had lost 13 and won five of his 24 competitive meetings with English clubs, scoring 25 goals and conceding 47.
• Their record in their last 11 games of this type is more uniform, winning four victories and three draws.
• Die Werkself lost eight of their 11 competitive games outside in England, winning once.
• Leverkusen was undefeated in the Bundesliga of last season, but lost three successive games in Europe since a 1-1 draw in Brest last October, marking once through these matches.

Chelsea in the prediction of Leverkusen

The evaluation on each side is delicate. Leverkusen should be clearer after weeks of preparation, but Chelsea could consider their two games this particularly important weekend with their season from a week before the start of Leverkusen at Hoffenheim (August 23, 14:30 BST / 09:30 and / 06:30 He).

Given the unpredictability of the teams and the intensity, the safest prediction seems to be a 1-1 draw, just like the score when Chelsea welcomed Inter in a friend at home in pre-season last August.