Chelsea FC travels to Rennes tomorrow night for a UEFA Champions League group stage clash that will see Blues goalkeeper Edouard Mendy face his former club for just the second time. The English giants won the first encounter handily, and they are strongly favored to take the rematch here.

In looking at what kind of team manager Frank Lampard will set up in front of Mendy, it figures to be a very strong one. The Blues boss has a nearly fully fit squad, with the very injury-plagued Christian Pulisic the only notable absentee.

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Chelsea FC travel to Ligue 1 side Rennes tomorrow night for a Champions League Group E clash between the two sides at opposite ends of the standings. Chelsea top the grouping table with 7 points, and a goal differential of +7.

They are almost certain to go through to the knockout round at this point, and any kind of positive result here would further solidify that. As for Rennes, they are dead last, with just a single point and a goal differential of -4.

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In the latest Chelsea team fitness update, manager Frank Lampard ruled Christian Pulisic out for Saturday’s Premier League fixture at Newcastle United. The American has apparently suffered yet another setback while was closing in on a return to action.

“Pulisic is not fit for Newcastle but he has stepped up his training slowly. It has been quite a problematic injury, we have been cautious,” Lampard said. One word in that sentence, “problematic” raises some alarm bells here.

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(Update: Pulisic officially ruled out)

Chelsea didn’t actually hit the ground running this season, as they were still waiting on having all their summer signings fully fit and integrated into the team.

Once they did get everybody in, and working together however, the Blues certainly did start living up to their summer transfer window hype.

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(Update: Pulisic officially ruled out)

Chelsea FC visits Newcastle United in the very first Premier League contest out of the international break. It’s a match-up of two sides that have plenty of fitness concerns and several injury absentees, so we’ll just dive right into it, starting with the visitors’ list of potential unavailable players.

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Former Chelsea FC manager Antonio Conte, now in charge at Inter Milan, gave a wide-ranging and extremely lid-lifting interview to The Daily Telegraph this week. A lot of ground was covered and information revealed.

Conte opened up on his relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and former striker Diego Costa. He also provided some intriguing details about the time he tried to sign both Virgil van Dijk and Romelu Lukaku. The 51-year-old Italian won a Premier League and FA Cup title during his two seasons at Chelsea, a time that certainly saw more than its share of tumult.

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(Update: Pulisic officially ruled out)

We’ve reached that point in the current international break where it’s time to start looking ahead to the weekend fixtures. With that in mind, we explore some early Chelsea FC team news ahead of their Saturday Premier League clash at Newcastle United.

The fifth place Blues will head Tyneside with the possibility of three players coming back into the fold: forward Kai Havertz, winger Christian Pulisic and midfielder Billy Gilmour. Let’s do the run down on the trio.

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Chelsea striker Timo Werner made a big money move from RB Leipzig to Chelsea FC this summer, and although it took a bit at first, he’s really made a huge impact now.

Werner didn’t exactly hit the ground running, but, thanks to a brace in Germany’s 3-1 win over Ukraine, he now has seven goals in his last five games for club and country across all competitions.

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USMNT and Chelsea star Christian Pulisic has once again succumbed to the same hamstring injury that has kept from appearing for Chelsea in their last couple of matches. The 22-year-old has been withdrawn from the USMNT squad for the upcoming matches against Wales and Panama.

Coach for the national squad Gregg Berhalter confirmed to reporters Wednesday morning, stating that Pulisic had come into camp as “day to day,” and wasn’t able to recover in time to play in the USMNT’s first matches since February. 

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There was a time when soccer in the United States was looked down upon by the elite leagues in Europe. A time when $73 million for a player from across the pond was unthinkable. My how times have changed.

From Christian Pulisic’s mega-money move from Dortmund to Chelsea to Gio Reyna turning heads in the Bundesliga, this week we’ll see us taking a look at the main American talents making a splash on the continent where the sport was born.

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Chelsea left Christian Pulisic, who is currently listed as “day-to-day” (hamstring injury) out of their squad that beat Sheffield United 4-1 on the weekend, but he should be fully fit after the international break.

The 22-year-old still joined the United States national team camp for the November internationals, but it is not likely he’ll see much action this week and/or next.

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There was a time when soccer in the United States was looked down upon by the elite leagues in Europe. A time when $73 million for a player from across the pond was unthinkable. My how times have changed.

From Christian Pulisic’s mega-money move from Dortmund to Chelsea to Gio Reyna turning heads in the Bundesliga, this week we’ll see us taking a look at the main American talents making a splash on the continent where the sport was born.

[Read more…]