CELTIC will look to continue their impressive pre-season form as they take on Chelsea in Notre Dame, Indiana on Saturday night in what promises to be an entertaining clash.
Brendan Rodgers’ men began their tour of America in emphatic fashion, as they defeated MLS side DC United 4-0 in the capital in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The Scottish Premiership champions then defeated the English Premier League champions Manchester City in a thrilling 4-3 victory in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Despite a strong finish to last season, Chelsea opted to get rid of unpopular manager Mauricio Pochettino and replace him with Leicester City’s Championship title-winning head coach Enzo Maresca.
The Italian took charge of his first game against Wrexham in the early hours of Thursday morning and despite taking a first-half lead, had to rely on an 84th-minute equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw.
How the Bookies View It: Celtic a Big Price
Chelsea have been installed as favourites here, as they are Evens to claim their first victory of the Enzo Maresca reign. The Hoops are an appealing 11/5 to maintain their 100% record in the States, whilst a draw is 27/10 – also at Bet365.
Head to head: Rare Meeting Between the Pair
These two sides have not faced each other since a pair of friendlies in the mid 2000’s, in which Chelsea won one and drew the other.
Players to watch: Kühn to Cause The Blues Problems.
Nicolas Kühn had a very impressive opening 45 minutes against Manchester City last time out as the German winger scored twice before setting Kyogo up for the third before being taken off at the break for James Forrest.
Christopher Nkunku’s first campaign with Chelsea was blighted with injuries, but the ex-RB Leipzig man is now back fit and netted the opener against Wrexham.
Probable line-ups
The Blues fielded an entirely different team in the second half against Wrexham, with the exception of Lesley Chukwuemeka, who played the full 90, so it’s hard to predict who the Italian will pick from the start here.
Brendan Rodgers made 11 changes during the game against Manchester City a few days ago, and he may opt for the same starting 11 that led 3-1 at halftime.
Chelsea: Sanchez, James, Tosin, Badiashile, Colwill, Lavia, Chukwuemeka, Nkunku, Madueke, Guiu, Sterling
Celtic: Schmeichel, Ralston, Welsh, Scales, Taylor, O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate, Kühn, Kyogo, Maeda
Anything else catch the eye?
Friendlies are usually not a great watch, but this has the potential to be different given what we’ve seen from both these sides in pre-season already.
There have been an eye-catching 11 goals across both of Celtic’s opening two matches in the States and four in Chelsea’s pre-season opener, so goals should be the way to go again here.
10 of those goals have been scored by both of these sides, and it’s hard to envisage Both Teams to Score not landing. Odds may be short on that, so adding Over 2.5 Goals should increase the odds.
Over 3.5 Goals has also landed in all three of those above-mentioned matches, and that stands a very good chance here once the bookies price this match up.
This International Friendly match between Chelsea and Celtic will be played on Jul 27, 2024 and kick off at 21:00. Check below for our tipsters best Chelsea vs Celtic prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
