Werder Bremen vs. Chelsea, Preseason Friendly: Preview, Game time, TV schedule, live streaming

Chelsea had been rumored to finish the preseason with a trip to Russia to play Spartak Moscow, but for whatever reason (perhaps due to their Europa League or Russian Premier League commitments), that fixture never quite materialized, and instead, this match was added to the schedule.  It's a rematch of a friendly from two years ago, which Chelsea shockingly lost 3-0... but then the Blues went on to win the Premier League, so we'd no doubt gladly trade another 3-0 preseason friendly loss for a Premier League title.

After a productive trip to the USA, Antonio Conte will be looking to this game to help him finalize a few tactical and personnel decisions.  It will be interesting to see whether the 4-4-2/4-2-4 returns, or if we continue with the 4-3-3/4-5-1 seen in the second half against AC Milan.

This match will conclude Chelsea's preseason schedule, though there will be an open training session held at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, before the team and the fans return for the real deal the Monday after, against West Ham United.

Let's enjoy this one first.

Date / Time: Sunday, August 7, 2016, 14:00 BST; 9am EDT; 6:30pm IST

Venue: Weserstadion, Bremen, Germany

Referee: Hopefully better than last time, who made it a "circus" and "killed the match", according to the always reasonable and understated Jose Mourinho

Forecast: A pleasant early August day.

On TV: Chelsea TV (UK); CBS Sports Network (USA) — here's a channel finder for this obscure network; none (India); elsewhere

Streaming online: Chelsea TV (UK & int'l — unless covered by local rights); CBS Sports Digital (USA)

Werder Bremen team news: Werder stayed in the Bundesliga by the skin of their teeth last season, as despite collecting 7 points out of the last 9 available, they still needed a last-minute Papy Djilobodji goal on the final matchday to ensure survival.  Djilo has since moved on, having recently been sold to Sunderland after returning to Chelsea, but Werder have taken multiple steps to strengthen the side.

They got some Chinese team to overpay for Anthony Ujah, and replaced him with Wolfsburg's Max Kruse.  Finnish veteran Niklas Moisander and Senegalese international Lamine Sané have both joined as well.  The USA's Aron "Iceman" Jóhannson is back from a long-term hip problem that had kept him out for almost a year, while young Hungarian international László Kleinheisler is looking to build on his international-scene breakout at Euro 2016.

Former Chelsea center forward Claudio Pizarro is still around at age 37 while the right back whom I really wanted Chelsea to sign 3-4 years ago, Theodore Gebre Selassie is about to start his fifth season with the Green-whites.

Chelsea team news: A 23-man contingent has traveled to Germany, including Jamaican international Michael Hector, but not including Matt Miazga, Kenedy, and Loïc Rémy. The squad should otherwise be basically the one that will be available once the Premier League starts, barring any transfer activity between now and then.

Branislav Ivanović and Diego Costa should both be fully healthy now after recently recovering from shoulder and back problems, respectively.

There are plenty of questions left to answer ahead of the season; hopefully Conte will learn just as much from this game as he claimed he did from the last friendly against AC Milan.

Previously: Highlights of the match from two years ago.