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Barely 2 months after the greatest triumph in the club’s history, it’s back to business for Chelsea Football Club as it enters a new era under ‘permanent’ manager Roberto di Matteo. A busy summer of transition saw a Chelsea legend leave the club to the Far East but with exciting young players coming into the ageing squad, the new season looks promising for Chelsea as it begins its pre-season tour of America with a game against Seattle Sounders.

Opposition Views

It’s not every year that Champions League winners visit Seattle yet that is what will happen tonight when Seattle Sounders host Chelsea. Chelsea’s fifth visit to Seattle marks another chapter in the growing history between the two clubs which began back in 1967 when the Blues defeated a Seattle amateur’s team 5-0 at the Memorial Stadium. The Blues last appearance against the Sounders was in 2009, when they received goals from Daniel Sturridge and Frank Lampard in a 2-0 win over the Sounders.

Since then, Chelsea have added the Premier League(2010), 2 FA Cups and the elusive Champions League to its trophy cabinet. Meanwhile Seattle have elevated themselves to being Championship contenders and have also won the US Open Cup thrice in ‘09, ‘10 and ‘11. They play Sporting Kansas City next month in this year’s final.

The friendly will also bring on an unexpected farewell for Seattle, as forward Roger Levesque has decided the match against Chelsea will be his last as he will attempt to further his educations according to The Seattle Times. According to few Seattle fans, Fredy Montero hasn’t been great this season. Hopefully, it continues tomorrow as the Chelsea defence needs to cope up with Eddie Johnson (ex-Fulham) as well .Sounders Head Coach Sigi Schmid will have a full squad at his disposal except long-term absentee David Estrada.

Roberto di Matteo on Seattle Sounders and MLS

The perception we have in Europe is that MLS is improving. I tend to watch a bit more MLS games now sometimes because of the players that are involved. They (the Sounders) have some very good players. We obviously know Eddie Johnson a bit better than others, but you know, (Mauro) Rosales, (Alvaro) Fernandez – they’ve got some good players and it will be interesting to play them

Chelsea News

Rectifying a lowly 6^th position in the league last season will be the priority as di Matteo attempts to infuse the new Chelsea with a bed-rock of senior players – (Cech, Terry, Cole, Lampard) The loss of Drogba (Kalou and Bosingwa as well) was eased by the arrival of the hottest property in Europe – Eden Hazard while Marko Marin was also signed from Werder Bremen. Yossi Benayoun, Josh McEachran and Kevin de Bruyne returned from loan spells to swell the Chelsea squad left thread-bare by Olympic participants Juan Mata, Oriol Romeu, Ryan Bertrand, Daniel Sturridge and (Oscar).

John Terry is set to join the team this weekend after being cleared of racial abuse charges during the summer while Gary Cahill has recovered from a jaw injury that ruled him out of the Euros. The younger players in the squad will be put up for trial in the pre-season games. Lucas Piazon, Josh McEachran, Todd Kane and Patrick Bamford have the chance to prove their mettle and possibly push for a place in the squad.

Line-up

Assuming that di Matteo continues with the 4-2-3-1, expect di Matteo to fiddle around with the team tonight.

Probables

Lukaku

Marin Hazard Ramires

Lampard Mikel

Fereira Cahill Luiz Ivanovic

Cech

It will be interesting to see how new signings Hazard and Marin blend. The roles of seniors Frank Lampard and Michael Essien will be cleared up in the pre-season while Fereira might have to cover for Ashley Cole at Left-Back

Seattle Sounders Head Coach Sigi Schmid

Obviously, we want to do well. Last year was a strange one for us and it came in the middle of a big stretch of games. What’s nice is we don’t have a game on the weekend after this one, so we can play guys some more minutes than we were able to play guys last year. It’s something we’re looking forward to. We hope they haven’t found their Champions League sharpness at this point. But as always, these international games for our players are a great opportunity and something that they always look forward to

Players to Watch

Seattle - Eddie Johnson - He may have been goal-less for Fulham (and Preston for that matter) but expect him to stretch Cahill and Luiz in the Chelsea defence.

Chelsea - Eden Hazard - Considered the hottest property in Europe, he has the ability to be a truly great player. It will be intriguing to see his first game in a Chelsea shirt.

Foot Notes

Literally rolling the Green Carpet!

- The Sounders have replaced their home stadium’s usual turf surface with a full natural grass playing field

Stability

- There are nine players on Chelsea's team who played in the 2009 friendly in Seattle. Four players even remain from the 2004 squad that beat Celtic FC, 4-2, here in an exhibition: midfielder Frank Lampard, goalkeeper Petr Cech, and defenders John Terry and Paulo Ferreira.

Chelsea’s record in Seattle

Year Opponent Score

1967 Local amateurs 5-0

1977 Sounders (NASL) 0-2

2004 Celtic FC 4-2

2009 Sounders FC 2-0

2012 Sounders FC --

The boring summer is ending. Sit back and enjoy the first game of a new era at Chelsea Football Club

Kickoff – July 18 – 9:30 pm EDT, July 19 – 2:30 am BST

Venue – Century Fields, Seattle

How to watch? Chelsea TV, ESPN 2(USA)

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