Pre-season preview, prediction & lineups
Chelsea’s pre-season schedule commences down under at the enormous, 83,000 capacity Stadium Australia. This fixture in Sydney signals the start of the Xabi Alonso era and, even with a reduced squad due to the World Cup, fans are intrigued to get a first glimpse of a new-look Chelsea.
Chelsea vs Western Sydney Wanderers match info
- Date: Tuesday 28 July 2026.
- Kick off times (s): 7:45pm (local) and 10:45am (BST).
- Competition: Pre-season friendly.
- Venue: Stadium Australia – Sydney.
- How to watch: CFC+.
How do I watch Chelsea vs Western Sydney Wanderers?
This match is available to watch on CFC+ around the world. Meantime, it is also live on Paramount+ in Australia, DAZN in Japan, VG+ in Norway and Claro Sports in Central and South America.
Chelsea vs Western Sydney Wanderers match preview
This is the start of Chelsea’s marathon pre-season tour of Asia and beyond. In the next 12 days, the Blues will play five matches in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia, facing a wide-variety of opponents. First, it is two matches in the Sydney Super Cup, also taking on historic rivals Tottenham on Saturday, proceeded by this clash with their Aussie-based hosts.
This will be a first friendly fixture in charge of Xabi Alonso, who has a huge task ahead of him. At the end of a chaotic season, which saw three managers, including the Liam Rosenior experiment, the Blues finished tenth, thereby failing to qualify for any European competition. Nevertheless, with free mid-weeks throughout the campaign and expectations at a low ebb, this is an ideal time for Alonso to arrive at Stamford Bridge, but will he make a winning start to pre-season?
So, what about hosts Western Sydney Wanderers? How difficult an opponent are they likely to be? Well, not very. The Red and Blacks finished rock-bottom of the A-League last season, claiming only five victories from 26 matches. This was quite the decline, having finished fourth the year before. Thus, they also have a new manager in charge, with Ufuk Talay having arrived from Sydney FC.
The next A-League season does not begin until 16 October, so this is the very early stages of pre-season. However, they were involved in an Australia Cup tie last week, beating minnows Tigers FC 2-0, thanks to quick-fire goals from Miguel Di Pizio and then Brandon Borrello in Canberra. Nevertheless, Chelsea should cruise to victory down under.
Chelsea team news
After their early World Cup eliminations, Jorrel Hato, Moisés Caicedo, Mamadou Sarr and the returning Nicolas Jackson could feature in this friendly. Pedro Neto and Mike Penders can link up with the squad later in the tour, while Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James, Enzo Fernández and new signing Morgan Rogers will miss the entirety of the fixtures in Asia. Estêvão Willian, Jamie Gittens and Roméo Lavia are all not yet full fit.
In terms of who will feature, Cole Palmer will be the star attraction, having been left out of Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad. New signings Marco Palestra, Emmanuel Emegha and Geovany Quenda could all appear for the first time in blue, while returning loanees Aarón Anselmino and Jackson will be looking to prove their worth to Alonso. It’ll be intersting to see if the new manager deploys the back three that served him so well at Bayer Leverkusen.
- Chelsea predicted lineup vs Western Sydney Wanderers: Sánchez; Lecture, Adarabioyo, Anselmino, Colwill; Acheampong, Essugo, Quenda, Jackson, João Pedro; Emegha.
Western Sydney Wanderers team news
Not so long ago, the WSW squad featured former Chelsea fans’ favourite Juan Mata but, after a falling out with now former head coach Alen Stajcic, he joined Melbourne Victory 12 months ago. In terms of possible familiar faces, former Bournemouth and Newcastle winger Ryan Fraser could feature.
- Western Sydney Wanderers predicted lineup vs Chelsea: Vidackovic, Madanha, Ferreyra, Pantazopoulos, Gersbach; Scicluna, Thurgate, Di Pizio, Hammond, Gillion; Borrello.
- Score prediction: Chelsea 5-0 Western Sydney Wanderers.
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