Kawasaki Frontale vs Chelsea Preview: Where to Watch, Live Stream, Kick Off Time & Team News

?Chelsea and Kawasaki Frontale meet on Friday as the Blues continue their pre-season campaign under new manager Frank Lampard against the J1 League champions in the 72,000 seater Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. 

After a solid 4-0 win last time out against St Patrick’s Athletic in Dublin, they will be looking to continue that form here. 

They will be boosted by the arrival of Christian Pulisic, who has joined the squad for the first time since leaving Borussia Dortmund. He had been given extra time off following his involvement at the Gold Cup this summer with the USA.

Here’s everything you need to know about the clash.

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Where to Watch

?When Is Kick Off?	?Friday 19 July
?What Time Is Kick Off?	?11:00 (BST)
?Where Is it Played?	?Nissan Stadium, Yokohama
?TV Channel/Live Stream?	?Chelsea TV
?Referee?	?TBC

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Team News

As mentioned previously, ?Chelsea will be welcoming Pulisic to the squad for the first time ?as he joined up with the squad for the first time, and he could feature from the outset.

?N’Golo Kante has stepped up his recovery programme after working closely with the fitness and physio staff to recover from a knee issue. With two games in Japan scheduled, including Barcelona on 23 July, we could see Kante feature in some capacity.

However, Chelsea will be without Ethan Ampadu, who hasn’t travelled to Japan as Lampard hopes to send the young Welshman out on loan.

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Predicted Lineups

Chelsea

?Kepa; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Luiz, Emerson; Jorginho, Mount, Kovacic; Pulisic, Batshuayi, Giroud.

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Head to Head Record

?Chelsea in recent seasons have taken their pre-season to Asia but haven’t competed against Kawasaki Frontale before.

The Japanese side were head and shoulders above everyone else and qualified for the AFC Champions League in their 2018 campaign, but are currently third in the league this season, albeit with a game in hand.

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Recent Form

Chelsea got their pre-season underway with a 1-1 draw Bohemians in Dublin, with ?Michy Batshuayi with the goal. Their second game was much improved as they produced a 4-0 victory over St Patrick’s Athletic, with Mason Mount, Emerson and Olivier Giroud among the goals.

Frontale are unbeaten in their last 15 competitive games, last losing a match in April.

Here’s how each side has featured in their last five games.

?Chelsea	Kawasaki Frontale?
?St. Patricks 0-4 Chelsea (13/7)	?FC Tokyo 0-3 Kawasaki Frontale (14/7)
?Bohemians 1-1 Chelsea (10/7)	?Kawasaki Frontale 0-0 Sagan Tosu (7/7)
?Chelsea 4-1 Arsenal (29/5)	?Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 Meiji University (3/7)
?New England Revolution 0-3 Chelsea (16/5)	?Jubilo Iwata 1-3 Kawasaki Frontale (30/6)
?Leicester 0-0 Chelsea (12/5)	?Kawasaki Frontale 1-1 Consadole Sapporo (14/6)

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Prediction

Overall, Chelsea should look to build on their recent 4-0 in Ireland with another victory here. This is their strongest pre-season squad so far and the inclusion of Pulisic should be a boost.

Expect a Chelsea win and you’d be silly to write off a potential debut goal for Pulisic.

Prediction: Kawasaki Frontale 0-3 Chelsea?

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