Chelsea continue their pre-season tour of the United States on Saturday when they face Scottish giants Celtic in a friendly in Indiana.
The Blues started the tour with a feisty and ultimately disappointing 2-2 draw with League One outfit Wrexham, who they had beaten 5-0 in pre-season last summer. An altercation between James McClean and Levi Colwill after just two minutes stole the headlines, but Enzo Maresca’s tactical setup also came under scrutiny.
Celtic have enjoyed a comparatively positive start to their US adventure, first beating DC United 4-0 six days ago and following that up with an impressive 4-3 win over Premier League champions Manchester City. They will be hoping for another scalp against the Blues this time around.
Here’s 90min’s guide to Chelsea vs Celtic on Saturday 27 July.
Chelsea vs Celtic H2H record
Chelsea and Celtic have never faced one another in a competitive fixture.
Current form (all competitions)
|
Chelsea |
Celtic |
|---|---|
|
Chelsea 2-2 Wrexham – 25/07/24 |
Man City 3-4 Celtic – 24/07/24 |
|
Chelsea 2-1 Bournemouth – 19/05/24 |
DC United 0-4 Celtic – 21/07/24 |
|
Brighton 1-2 Chelsea – 15/05/24 |
Queen’s Park 4-6 Celtic – 10/07/24 |
|
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Chelsea – 11/05/24 |
Ayr United 1-1 Celtic – 05/07/24 |
|
Chelsea 5-0 West Ham – 05/05/24 |
Celtic 1-0 Rangers – 25/05/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
chelsea.com, Celtic TV |
|
United States |
fuboTV, ESPN+, ESPN App, ESPN Deportes |
|
Canada |
chelsea.com, Celtic TV |
Chelsea are still without a host of players as they recover from international tournaments, including Cole Palmer, Conor Gallagher and Euro 2024 winner Marc Cucurella. A number of Blues were also omitted from the squad that travelled across the pond, including Trevoh Chalobah, Romelu Lukaku and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Omari Kellyman and Djordje Petrovic will miss out due to injury, but the good news for Chelsea is that Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana both returned from long-term problems against Wrexham. Christopher Nkunku also featured after struggling with fitness issues last term, scoring and generally impressing in the 2-2 draw.
New summer signings Tosin Adarabioyo and Marc Guiu made appearances and should get some more minutes against Celtic. The latter registered an assist against Wrexham.
Chelsea predicted lineup vs Celtic (3-4-3): Sanchez; Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Colwill; Gusto, Chukwuemeka, Lavia, Chilwell; Madueke, Nkunku, Sterling.
Brendan Rodgers will be hesitant to change too much from the side that triumphed over Man City last time out, with new goalkeepers Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo both getting some minutes under their belts.
Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn sparkled with two goals and an assist as he continues his excellent pre-season form, while Matt O’Riley featured again from the start despite consistent links with a Serie A move this summer.
Celtic predicted lineup vs Chelsea (4-3-3): Schmeichel; Ralston, Welsh, Lagerbielke, Taylor; O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Palma.
Celtic’s four pre-season outings have been ludicrously high-scoring so far with 23 goals across them and as Chelsea continue to hone their new tactical setup, this may be another goal-fest. The Blues looked very open in their own half against Wrexham, something that Rodgers’ men could take advantage of on Saturday.
Chelsea do have the far superior squad and you would expect them to test Celtic regularly, but the Hoops’ 4-3 win over Man City means they will be in confident mood heading to Indiana. We’re backing an exiting draw for this one, although the Blues will be significant favourites.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-2 Celtic
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