Can Chelsea continue their flawless pre-season with an International Champions Cup win over Bayern Munich?

The Blues eased back into action in mid-July with a visit from local rivals Fulham at their facilities in Cobham. Befitting the location, the match had the air of a training exercise for Chelsea, who walloped the Cottagers 8-2. Willian had nabbed a hat-trick before the interval, joined by braces from Michy Batshuayi and Loic Remy and a successful spot-kick from Cexar Azpilicueta, the Spaniard making up for a first half only goal that had actually drawn Fulham back to 2-1.



Chelsea’s next result was arguably even more impressive, a 3-0 win over Arsenal in China. Their soon to be Charity Shield opponents capitulated in a way reminiscent of last season, with another pair of goals for Matshuayi complimented by a 4th strike in 2 games from Willian.

So far Antonio Conte has been medium-busy in terms of big money transfers – neither the complete abstinence of Tottenham, nor the accountant-baiting spending of Man City. 24-year old German centre-back Antonio Rudiger joined from Roma for just shy of £30 million, while Tiemoue Bakayoko joined the Monaco-exodus after arriving at Stamford Bridge for a cool £40 million.

The latest signee, and most pertinent to Tuesday’s game, is Alvaro Morata, who departed (his second stint at) Real Madrid after just one season for £58 million. He could make his first appearance in blue at the Singapore National Stadium, something likely to be the highlight for Chelsea fans.

As for the German champions, Bayern have so far had a fairly mixed pre-season. A bout of games in Deutschland caused no bother, with hefty wins over the illustrious likes of BCF Wolfrathausen and FSV Erlangen-Bruck joined by triumph in the Telekom Cup after victories against 1899 Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen.

Yet the club’s International Champions Cup run has been something of a flop. Having led for 85 minute against Arsenal thanks to an 8th minute spot-kick conversion from Robert Lewandowski, an injury time strike from Alex Iwobi sent the game to penalties, with the Gunners winning 3-2. The follow-up against AC Milan was far worse, Bayern succumbing to a 4-0 defeat in Shenzhen.

Nevertheless the Germans are still fancied to prevail in Singapore, if only just, with Spreadex offering a Bayern Munich/Chelsea Goal Supremacy spread of 0.25-0.45 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.2-3.4.