Chelsea kick off their Premier League season with a tricky away match, they visit Huddersfield at Kirklees Stadium on Saturday. Last season the Blues secured a 3-1 victory at Huddersfield with goals from Tiemoue Bakayoko, Willian and Pedro, but the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge ended 1-1 and Huddersfield even had a 1-0 lead at some point. Chelsea have won three of the last four direct matches in all competitions, but Huddersfield do remember that they have won 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup in 1999.
Last season Huddersfield returned to the Premier League for the first time since 1972 and they managed to perform well and secure their survival in the top flight. In fact, the result that sealed their survival was the 1-1 at Stamford Bridge on May 9. The Terriers have reinforced their squad with five new players this summer: Ben Hamer from Leicester, Ramadan Sobhi from Stoke, Adama Diakhaby from Monaco, Juninho Bacuna from FC Groningen and Erik Durm from Dortmund. Danny Williams is the only injury concern for the home side.
Chelsea start the new season with a new manager as Maurizio Sarri replaced fellow Italian Antonio Conte and with renewed confidence after they failed to defend the Premier League title last year. The Blues have sold their number 1 goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, on transfer deadline day, but brought in Kepa Arrizabalaga from Athletic Bilbao as a replacement for a hefty fee of just over 70 million pounds. Midfielder Jorginho from Napoli is another important signing of the summer, along with Mateo Kovacic who joined on loan from Real Madrid. Both Kepa and Kovacic are not expected to feature in Saturday's match, but Jorginho will surely play.
Probable line-ups:
Huddersfield: Lossl - Hadergjonaj, Schindler, Zanka, Kongolo - Mooy, Hogg - Parra, Pritchard, Diakhaby - Mounie
Chelsea: Caballero - Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Luiz, Alonso - Barkley, Jorginho, Fabregas - Pedro, Morata, Hudson-Odoi
My prediction: Huddersfield have too many new players that need to settle in, Chelsea should win this match 2-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Huddersfield win - 6.50
Draw - 4.00
Chelsea win - 1.61
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