English Premier League champions Manchester City will begin the defence of their trophy and the pursuit of an unprecedented fifth straight English top-flight title when they travel to Stamford Bridge for a tough assignment against Chelsea this afternoon.
Last week, City, under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola, got their season off to an impressive start when they won the 2024 Community Shield with a 7-6 penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United at Wembley.
After the game ended 1-1 with late goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Bernardo Silva, it needed the lottery of penalty kicks for City to win their seventh Community Shield and Guardiola’s 18th trophy as the Cityzens’ coach.
For Chelsea, after bringing out their pre-season matches to a close with a 1-1 draw against Inter Milan, in his first game at Stamford Bridge, head coach Enzo Maresca believes his side is well placed for the start of the highly anticipated 2024/25 season today.
The Chelsea squad returned from its summer tour of the US to wrap up its pre-season schedule with a home friendly at the Bridge against Inter Milan, with Lesley Ugochukwu’s late equaliser securing a 1-1 draw with the Italian champions.
With the friendlies now over and the competitive action starting, Maresca is pleased with the way his team is shaping up on the pitch.
“I’m very happy because I can see that the team is improving on the ball and off the ball,” he said on the Chelsea website.
“For sure the team is already doing well. It’s the most important thing, for sure. With time this team is going to get better and better. We started just one month ago, so I can see clearly that the team is improving.”
There was even a new signing to welcome, with Pedro Neto being introduced to the fans after completing his transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“I’m very excited, he can offer many things. He can play on the right side, he can play on the left side, he’s very good one-on-one. It is one more option we have because there will be many, many games in the season, so we need a big squad,” Maresca added.
The Italian was pleased to be able to spread playing time around against Inter, including for some of those who returned later from international commitments or have recently recovered from injury.
“We tried to share minutes with all of them. At the end of the first half, we changed four players, just to give some minutes to Cole [Palmer], Moi [Caicedo], all the players who need to get fit.
“Also, for Nicolas [Jackson] it was the first time for him. Overall, we are happy with the physical condition of the players.
“We have Wes [Fofana], Romeo [Lavia] and Christo [Nkunku] available, all of them are fantastic players.
“Wes, I know he’s fantastic, it’s just a matter of being fit. Romeo I know very well from Man City and Christo is doing well, so I’m very happy,” he added.
