Chelsea open their Premier League season today at Stamford Bridge with a London derby against FA Cup and Community Shield winners Crystal Palace, and head coach Enzo Maresca says his players are ready to get going.
A little over a month after being crowned world champions in New Jersey, United States, Chelsea are hungry for more after winning a couple of quick friendlies against AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen, and the feeling around the club is far stronger.
In the history of the Premier League, the Blues have a very strong record on the opening day of the season, normally getting their campaign off on the right foot.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Maresca revealed that the Blues’ preparations were unusual this summer as seen on Chelsea official website. Maresca said:
“We haven’t done any fitness tests since we started. We started pre-season last Monday preparing for the Friday game against Leverkusen, like a normal week in a normal season.
We didn’t have time to do pre-season tests or this kind of thing. I have never seen this. Probably it’s much better for the players!
“But we are working well. We are okay, we are good. The mood of the players is very good, especially with the way we finished last season.”
The 45-year-old Italian coach hopes Chelsea can carry their strong form at the end of last term into the new campaign:
“It will be very important to start in the same way as last season, or continue in the same way we finished last season.
“We had a good run in the end of the season in the Premier League, but no doubt during the season it’s normal to have some moments where you do well for many games in a row, and some games where you struggle.”
Ahead of the encounter, Softfootball understands that one of the danger men in the Palace squad, Eberechi Eze is uncertain to feature for them at Stamford Bridge today as talk of a move to Tottenham continues to move towards the final weeks of the summer transfer window.
The Blues will be well aware that there are still plenty of threats that could hurt them, particularly in attack as Chelsea look to put together their best possible defence amid injury concerns.
There are concerns in Chelsea squad as Levi Colwill is set to miss the majority of the new campaign after picking up a serious knee problem in training, while Wesley Fofana is in a race against time to return to full fitness ahead of the Palace clash.
