St. Patrick’s vs. Chelsea, Friendly: Preview, team news, how to watch

Chelsea wrap up the initial set of fake games where results do not matter preseason stint in Republic of Ireland today against St Patrick’s Athletic FC. For Chelsea FC, this will be the second and final friendly in the Emerald Isle.

Chelsea’s last fake game preseason friendly against Bohemians started off brightly with a Michy Batshuayi goal within the first ten minutes. Eleven boys in blue kicked a ball around against eleven in black and red stripes for the remaining 80 minutes. Our favored players in blue got their cardio in for the day to raise match fitness in a simulated game setting.

Frank Lampard and crew now look to continue raising match fitness and integrating the more recently arrived senior team members into the fold.

Date / Time: Saturday, July 13, 2019, 14:00 BST; 09:00am EDT; 06:30pm IST

Venue: Richmond Park, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Forecast: 65°F; 18°C; 2% chance of precipitation

On TV: none — Chelsea TV is now online/app-only

Streaming online: Chelsea TV (£10.99 for the entire preseason on the website; not prorated) or the 5th Stand app (£1.99 per game). If you had a Chelsea TV subscription last season, the games should still be available to you for free. In the UK/Ireland, all 7 preseason games will be available on Chelsea TV. Globally, the rights for the games against Kawasaki Frontale, Barcelona, RB Salzburg, and Borussia Mönchengladbach might belong to other rights-holders and thus might not be available through Chelsea TV.

If you will recall, the last preseason match against Bohemians encountered numerous issues. Time will tell whether Chelsea have been able to fix their technology snafu in three days.

Chelsea team news: Frank Lampard will look to continue to build fitness and chemistry among his current crop of 27 players. After the preseason match against Bohemians a few days ago, most of the remaining senior members have returned with the exception of those who participated in international games (Christian Pulisic and Willian) or who are still recovering from injuries (Antonio Rüdiger, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek).

St Patrick’s Athletic team news: St Pats currently sit fifth in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Tomorrow’s friendly is sandwiched between their campaign to qualify for the UEFA Europa League. They lost by two in the first leg of the 1st Qualifying Round against Swedish-side IFK Norrköping on Thursday, and may not field a strong squad if they choose to prioritize their European dream.

Perhaps the one player from St Patrick’s Athletic FC who will be looking forward to tomorrows fake exhibition match will be Conor Clifford who signed with the Chelsea academy back in 2007. Clifford never made a senior team appearance, however he did captain the youth team to winning the FA Youth Cup in 2010. He would join the game of loans until being released in 2013 and falling out of love with the game. He has since made his way back home to Ireland, rediscovered his joy, was banned by FIFA for (earlier) betting offences for six months, and has been playing for St Patrick’s Athletic since last summer.

Prediction: Looking forward to whether Lampard continues to blend senior members with youth/reserves or if we’ll see a strong side made up of mostly senior players. At a bare minimum, football will be played with hopefully no issues with Chelsea’s official streaming options. A fake win would be nice, but again this is preseason. As long as we leave Ireland with 27 healthy players, then tomorrow’s match will be a success.

Previously: Highlights of the 1-1 vs. Bohemians