The Blues have played a training match against Peterborough at Cobham and an in-house contest in Dublin last week, but this is our first official pre-season fixture as Thomas Tuchel starts a season as Chelsea boss for the first time. Kick-off is at 7.45pm UK time.

Chelsea team news

But who will Tuchel select? Another clutch of players returned to training on Saturday, including those whose national side were beaten in the round of 16 at Euro 2020. That includes our French and German contingent, as well as Mateo Kovacic, but it remains to be seen if the game will come too soon for them to accumulate their first competitive minutes of pre-season.

However, the likes of Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Marcos Alonso should all get another taste of match action, with Ziyech and Hudson-Odoi in particular having stood out in the two training games.

The opposition

Bournemouth appointed Fulham boss Scott Parker as their new manager last month. The ex-Chelsea midfielder signed a three-year deal after Jonathan Woodgate’s contract expired.

Woodgate had led the Cherries into the Championship play-offs last season, where they were beaten by Brentford despite at one stage in the second leg leading 2-0 on aggregate. That was their first campaign back in England’s second tier following their relegation from the Premier League at the end of the elongated 2019/20 season.

Parker has already taken his players on a pre-season training camp to Spain, where they beat RB Linense 4-2 and then lost 2-1 to La Liga outfit Granada. Their goalscorer in the latter game was former Chelsea Academy striker Dominic Solanke, while new signing Emiliano Marcondes also featured from the off.

How to watch Bournemouth vs Chelsea?

The game is our first with a full capacity stadium since the 4-0 home win over Everton in March 2020. Ironically, our last away fixture with all tickets available was at Bournemouth a week earlier, when we drew 2-2.

Tickets in the Chelsea end for this pre-season encounter are off sale. However, you can still catch all the action live!

The game will be streamed live and available globally free of charge on The 5th Stand app and this website. Make sure you have push notifications enabled on The 5th Stand app, ready to inform you when the live stream is ready to watch.