Enzo Maresca and Reece James look to the campaign ahead in their notes, while you can read exclusive interviews with new arrival Tosin Adarabioyo and Chelsea legend Roberto Di Matteo.
Tosin began his career with our opponents Manchester City and describes signing for Chelsea as coming ‘full circle’ as he made his senior debut in an FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge back in 2016.
‘It’s actually still, to this day, one of my favourite memories in football,’ recalls the 26-year-old, who marked Diego Costa while still a teenager that afternoon. ‘I was making my professional debut for a club I’d been at since I was five years old, and playing against the Premier League champions, literally the best team in England, was amazing.’
The towering centre-back also had a few encounters with Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup as an academy prospect.
‘City and Chelsea were always the two best youth academies when I was growing up so it was definitely a big rivalry. I can remember the whole Chelsea line-up, pretty much – I’m friends with some of the boys that were at Chelsea at youth level then.’
On the subject of reminiscing, we spent some time with Roberto Di Matteo over the summer, and you can catch second part of his big interview with us in this Sunday’s programme. In this instalment, he looks back on his time in the Stamford Bridge dugout in 2012, reveals his coaching influences, and discusses the new Italian influence in charge of our men’s first team.
‘Firstly, I would like to welcome him and his staff to our club, and I wish him all the success that he hopes to have,’ he says of Maresca. ‘He has to represent his philosophy of the way he wants to play, and I think he showed that last season at Leicester. They were very entertaining, a strong team, possession-based, and so on. I think he will be very good.’
Sonia Bompastor introduces herself as the new head coach of Chelsea Women in her first programme column, and Filipe Coelho writes his first notes as our Under-21s head coach. You can also meet the new intake of Academy scholars in the Under-18s group.
Elsewhere, programme editor Richard Godden looks back at a classic opening day match – our trip to Highbury in August 1984, as John Neal’s side returned to the top flight and Kerry Dixon celebrated in the sun. Daniel Finkelstein reflects on the ‘new year’ feel that opening weekend gives to football supporters, and we look back on the history between Chelsea and Manchester City.
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