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Football London
Football London
Sport
Rob Guest

N'Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic, Danny Drinkwater - Predicted Chelsea team vs Kawasaki Frontale

Chelsea kick-off their pre-season tour of Japan on Friday with a game against Kawasaki Frontale at Nissan Stadium.

Drawing against Bohemians and beating St Patrick's Athletic on their tour of Ireland, Frank Lampard will want his side to keep up the good work in Yokohama.

The J League side actually won the title in Japan last season and the fact they are currently in league action means it will be a tough test for the Blues.

Lampard has played two different sides in either half of the friendlies so far this summer and it appears that he will go down that route again for their third game.

Well, Chelsea's open training session at the NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Football Stadium alluded to that anyway.

Eleven players took part in the first half of training in Yokohama before then swapping with the remaining players.

Pulisic goal in Chelsea training

So who will start for Chelsea against Kawasaki Frontale?

It appears Kepa Arrizabalaga will start the opening 45 minutes and he will play behind a back four of Cesar Azpilicueta, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen and Emerson.

Lampard will then start with two midfielders but there are currently question marks over whether or not N'Golo Kante will play for the first time in pre-season.

The Frenchman trained away from his teammates once he had taken part in the initial team exercise following the problems he suffered with his knee at the end of last season.

That could see Mateo Kovacic get the nod alongside Danny Drinkwater from the off as Lampard may elect to rest the World Cup winner once again.

Christian Pulisic looks set to make his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt following his January move from Borussia Dortmund.

The 20-year-old will start on the left of a front three behind Olivier Giroud with Kenedy on the opposite flank and Ross Barkley operating through the middle.

Lampard will then rotate his side after the break but there are currently question marks over whether or not Tammy Abraham will be involved given he missed the open training session through illness.

Predicted Chelsea XI for first half: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, Emerson; Drinkwater, Kovacic; Kenedy, Barkley, Pulisic; Giroud.

Predicted Chelsea XI for second half: Caballero; Zappacosta, Luiz, Tomori, Alonso; Bakayoko, Jorginho; Pedro, Mount, Palmer; Batshuayi.

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