Chelsea play their second pre-season friendly of the summer on Tuesday evening when they square off against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries, who start their Championship campaign on August 6, head into this contest on the back of a narrow defeat to Granada.
Match preview
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Chelsea have been back in training for a number of weeks, albeit without the majority of the players who guided the club to the Champions League trophy earlier in the year.
A 6-1 victory over Peterborough United in a behind-closed-doors friendly was supposed to be followed by a match against Drogheda United in a similar setting.
However, a possible coronavirus case within the group led to the cancellation of that game at short notice, leaving the Blues to play another 90-minute between themselves.
With the potential of another hectic campaign ahead of them, Thomas Tuchel will not be too concerned that the players currently available to him have not been able to accumulate the game time that was initially expected.
Fixtures against Bournemouth, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as the European Super Cup tie with Villarreal, will provide Tuchel and his squad with plenty of opportunities to get up to speed ahead of their August 14 date with Crystal Palace.
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The late arrival of Scott Parker as the club's new boss has left Bournemouth restricted to just two pre-season games ahead of welcoming the Premier League giants.
A 4-2 success against lower-level Spanish outfit Linense was followed by a 2-1 reverse versus La Liga side Granada, a respectable result given their shortened preparation time.
Nevertheless, Parker will not want to use that or a lack of signings as an excuse when his players go up against a team being tipped to challenge for the top-flight title.
While players will come and go over the coming weeks, Parker needs to see improvements from whoever takes to the pitch with the Championship opener against West Bromwich Albion scheduled for August 6.
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Team News
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Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner all returned to Chelsea training on Saturday.
However, those six players will almost certainly miss the trip to the South Coast, handing further opportunities to members of the squad who did not feature in a major tournament this summer.
Edouard Mendy, Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Tammy Abraham should all start on Tuesday evening.
Parker could select the same Bournemouth XI which started against Granada, a lineup which included new signing Emiliano Marcondes.
Mark Travers, Sam Sherring and Jaidon Anthony will hope to be provided with another chance to impress ahead of further additions being made by Parker.
Head To Head
Bournemouth and Chelsea are no strangers to each other having squared off in 12 Premier League and EFL Cup fixtures between 2015 and 2020.
Although Chelsea prevailed in seven of those fixtures, Bournemouth are currently on a three-match unbeaten streak against their more illustrious opponents.
We say: Bournemouth 1-4 Chelsea
Chelsea showed no mercy against Peterborough last time out, and we expect a similar kind of performance on Tuesday night. While Bournemouth may trouble the Blues at times, the European champions possess the quality required to canter to victory.
Darren Plant
