We’re now just over a week away from the start of the new Premier League season – although we will have to wait until Monday night (the 24th) for the Chelsea match – meaning it’s now time for the final preparations to be made on the pitch before things get played on the ground. Part of these final preparations is a friendly match at the Bridge Stadium, tomorrow afternoon against Real Sociedad.
This is a rematch of a pre-season friendly from twelve years ago, when Jose Mourinho was manager for the second time and led the Blues to the Premier League title. (It would all then fall apart the following season, a story that’s relevant again thanks to the recent release of the documentary “Mourinho” on Netflix.)
If we somehow end up winning the title this year as well, we might as well play Real Sociedad every summer from now on.
Date/Time: Saturday 15 August 2026, 14:00 GMT; 9 a.m. EST; 7:30 PM India time
place: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Climate prediction: In 2014, we were sidetracked by heavy rain; This time should be nice and very warm
There is a TV: None (USA/UK); ETB 1 (Spain); elsewhere
My neighbor: CFC+ (Everywhere except Spain) – £9.99 for the game only or £14.99/$19.99 for the entire season
Chelsea team news: Everyone has now returned, including the last few stragglers from post-World Cup holidays, such as Reece James and Enzo Fernandes, as well as big-money acquisitions Morgan Rogers and Maxence Lacroix. And small-money acquisitions like Jordan Henderson and Pep Chavarria. I expect them all to play, including Manchester City-linked Enzo. Chelsea have set a strict deadline on Friday evening for any bids for our vice-captain. No one arrived, so now he’s definitely staying (or at least that’s the theory).
It’s been a bit mixed in terms of results this pre-season, but overall, the vibes have been very good and some of the football on display has been good too. Xabi Alonso seems to be making his mark on the team, both on and off the field, and that is certainly a good thing. The team looks more balanced than in recent seasons, even if we still need to get rid of a few deadwoods. Probably our best overall performance was against Milan last weekend, before we go to Malaysia to play rugby against JDT. Fortunately, everyone seemed to be fine after that.
Real Sociedad team news: Like Chelsea, Real Madrid finished last season in 10th place in Serie A, and like Chelsea, that was a bit disappointing for them. Unlike Chelsea, they won a gloriously shiny trophy, beating Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. They are managed by Pellegrino Matarazzo, who became the first American (US) coach to win a major European title in the process. “America!”
World Cup champion and local legend Mikel Oyarzabal leads the line for the team. The 29-year-old striker has spent his entire career with the club and is coming off the best season of his career by scoring 15 league goals. He equaled the Spanish national team record with five goals in the World Cup, including a goal in the semi-final against France.
It has been an otherwise quiet summer, with the team essentially unchanged from last season.
previously: The aforementioned friendly match twelve years ago, which was Chelsea’s first home friendly in nearly a decade, was won by the Blues 2-0, with Diego Costa scoring twice in the first ten minutes. Diego made a strong start to his Chelsea career that season, winning our final title. Although we never played Real Sociedad competitively, we also played a friendly match against them in 1967. We have history!
