Fierce rivals Chelsea and Tottenham are going head-to-head in a pre-season fixture that is certain to be anything but “friendly.”
Tottenham will be seeking to build on their winning start to pre-season so far — following victories over MK Dons, Auckland FC and Sydney FC — while Chelsea kicked off their pre-season with a chaotic 6-4 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.
For Chelsea, they’re starting from scratch under new manager Xabi Alonso while Spurs head coach Roberto De Zerbi has been in place at the north London club since April.
Both sides endured deeply disappointing seasons last time out, although in vastly different ways, as Spurs narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the Premier League while Chelsea failed to qualify for Europe and finished 10th.
Both clubs changed managers twice last season. Spurs started the season with Thomas Frank, who was dismissed in February before Igor Tudor was brought in — only to last 44 days in the hot seat. De Zerbi was then Tottenham’s final roll of the dice and it paid off. as they retained their Premier League status.
Chelsea went into the 2025-26 season with Enzo Maresca at the helm, only for him to be gone on January 1 after tensions arose with the club owners. The Blues then turned to Liam Rosenior, who was managing Chelsea sister club Strasbourg FC at the time, but he lasted just 106 days and was dismissed after a bruising 3-0 defeat to Brighton.
Former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso is now the man in the dugout at Stamford Bridge.
Both Chelsea and Tottenham will be hoping for a positive pre-season ahead of the new campaign.
Here’s everything you need to know about the match.
How to watch:
The match will be available to watch via SpursPlay, Tottenham’s official video service, and CFC+, Chelsea’s official video service. Both clubs are streaming all of their men’s pre-season friendlies on their video services.
Key details:
Date, kick-off time:
U.S. ET: Saturday, Aug 1, 5:45 a.m.
UK BST: Saturday, Aug 1, 10:45 a.m.
India IST: Saturday, Aug 1, 3:15 p.m.
Australia AEST: Saturday Aug 1, 7:45 p.m.
Venue: Accor Stadium, Sydney
Team news:
Tottenham
Spurs have a new-look midfield in the form of summer arrivals Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes. Neither of them started their last pre-season fixture against Auckland FC, although Fernandes scored a screamer against MK Dons in Spurs’ first pre-season game earlier this month. James Maddison, who made his return at the tailend of the 2025-26 season, from an ACL tear he sustained in last summer’s pre-season, did not feature against Auckland or MK Dons.
New defender Jean Paul van Hecke has recently joined up with his teammates at the club following a break after playing for Netherlands at the World Cup.
Guglielmo Vicario, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohamed Kudus, Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons were not included in De Zerbi’s 35-man pre-season squad, as they are all recovering from injuries.
Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Djed Spence, Marcos Senesi, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr are all on a break following their exploits at the World Cup.
Chelsea
Chelsea have, once again, been busy in the transfer window. Morgan Rogers has joined from Aston Villa — but is on a break following his World Cup journey with England — while Alejandro Garnacho has been loaned out in the other direction.
Marc Cucurella left for Real Madrid earlier in the summer. Meanwhile, highly-rated teenage winger Geovany Quenda has joined from Sporting Lisbon and defender Marco Palestra has also arrived from Atalanta.
Quenda, however, is not part of Alonso’s travelling squad as he has picked up a minor injury and is staying at Cobham to recover.
In welcome news to Chelsea fans, wonderkid EstĂȘvĂŁo is part of Alonso’s pre-season squad, while Cole Palmer is set to be fresh seeing as he wasn’t part of England’s World Cup squad.
Reece James, Enzo Fernåndez, Mike Penders, Moisés Caicedo, Pedro Neto, Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Kendry Påez and Nicolas Jackson are all still on break after representing their countries at the World Cup.
