Preview: Chelsea vs. Club America - prediction, team news, lineups

Chelsea will be looking to kick-start their pre-season when they square off against Club America at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Meanwhile, their Mexican opponents are taking a break from domestic action, eager to find some more consistency with their performances.

Match preview

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Having earned a 2-2 draw with League One side Wrexham earlier in the week, Enzo Maresca would have felt that things could only get better for his Chelsea side in the friendlies that would follow.

However, despite a bright opening, the Blues were convincingly beaten 4-1 by Celtic on Saturday night, only netting a consolation through Christopher Nkunku's late penalty.

Maresca has insisted that Chelsea could take positives from certain aspects of their play, yet there is no getting away from the fact that some of the defending against the Scottish champions was abysmal.

The relatively-short turnaround may not have helped a team that has only been working with the Italian since July 8, but clubs will be encouraged by the vulnerabilities that have been on show.

Manchester City and Real Madrid are still to come on their United States pre-season tour, leaving Chelsea under pressure, to a certain extent, to find more rhythm against their next opponents.

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Unlike Chelsea, Club America have plenty of competitive matches under their belt with the Liga MX having gotten underway earlier this month.

Head coach Andre Jardine will have mixed thoughts over how the Eagles have performed so far, with six points having been collected from four fixtures.

Each of their defeats have come on their travels, Club America losing to Atletico San Luis and Tigres UANL, but they did post a 2-1 triumph at Juarez on July 21.

These two teams squared off as recently as 2022, Timo Werner and Mason Mount getting on the scoresheet either side of a Reece James own goal in a 2-1 win in Las Vegas.

Team News

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Maresca seems certain to shuffle his pack for this contest, despite it becoming clear that his senior players require more time featuring in his setup.

Tosin Adarabioyo, Malo Gusto, Lesley Ugochukwu and Raheem Sterling will all hope to come into the team.

Carney Chukwuemeka appears the most likely to drop out having played 135 minutes across the last two games, completing the match against Wrexham.

Jardine must decide whether to name his strongest Club America XI or take the opportunity to rest players.

If he opts for the former, much of the team that started the win over Juarez could feature, albeit with Rodrigo Aguirre pushing for an opportunity having scored as a substitute last time out.

Club America also have a showdown with Aston Villa to come three days on from this contest.

Chelsea possible starting lineup: Sanchez; Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Colwill; Gusto, Ugochukwu, Veiga, George; Sterling, Angelo; Broja

Club America possible starting lineup: Malagon; Espinoza, Lichnovsky, Araujo, Calderon; R. Sanchez, Dos Santos; Dilrosun, Fidalgo, E. Sanchez; Martin

We say: Chelsea 1-2 Club America

Although Chelsea's players are building their fitness, their defending has been nothing short of woeful under Maresca. With that in mind, and the superior fitness of their opponents, we can only back the Mexican side to post a statement win.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.