Chelsea pre-season: Dates, schedule and who is in squad for Ireland trip

Chelsea’s fringe players will get another week to try and get into the mind of manager Thomas Tuchel before his big hitters return from their holidays next week.

The fringe players and loan army have been back at Cobham, rounding off a productive week with an impressive 6-1 thumping of Peterborough on Saturday.

Hakim Ziyech, who had a difficult first season, helped himself to a hat-trick, while Tammy Abraham – linked with a move away – Christian Pulisic and youngster Armando Broja,

who impressed whilst on loan at Vitesse last season, were also on the scoresheet.

Manager Thomas Tuchel used 22 players available at his disposal, making sure almost everyone had 45 minutes in their legs ahead of the trip to Ireland today.

Players likely to be on the plane

Goalkeepers: Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Jamie Cumming, Lucas Bergstrom

Centre-backs: Malang Sarr, Matt Miazga, Jake Clarke-Salter

Full-backs Dujon Sterling, Marcos Alonso, Baba Rahman, Ian Maatsen, Davide Zappacosta,

Midfielders: Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tino Anjorin, Lewis Baker, Daniel Drinkwater, Trevoh Chalobah,

Forwards: Tammy Abraham, Armando Broja, Ike Ugbo, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Charly Musonda

First big hitters likely to join the team

Several of Chelsea’s stars are not back till next week including England heroes Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell who were all part of the team that lost the final of the Euro 2020 to Italy at Wembley.

Italy’s winning duo Jorginho and Emerson are also not expected back till late July.

However German trio Antonio Rudiger, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner could join the team in Ireland with their three weeks break coming to an end this week.

French duo Ngolo Kante and Kurt Zouma are also likely to return to the team this week though it’s not clear if they will be linking up with their mates in Ireland or begin their pre-season in Cobham.

Key pre-season dates

Thomas Tuchel is working round the clock to fix a low-profile game in Ireland but that has not been finalised yet so as things stand, they will take on Bournemouth on 27th July after they have returned from Ireland. They will then make the short trip to the Emirates to play Arsenal on 1st August.

The European champions will then host Tottenham in what is the final game of their pre-season at Stamford Bridge on 4th August before traveling to Belfast for their Super Cup game against Villareal on 11th August.

Chelsea first five Premier League fixtures

Thomas Tuchel’s side finished fourth last season and having won the Champions League despite taking over the team midway through the season, he’ll be determined to wrestle the Premier League from Manchester City this season.

They will begin their domestic campaign against Crystal Palace at home on the 14th August before games against Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham will reveal more about how Tuchel’s first full season in English football will be like.