The Bank of America Stadium awaits...

Matt Davies-Adams has got Liam Twomey and Sam Parkin in tow for your latest dose of Club World Cup chatter!

We start with the MD3 3-0 victory over ES Tunis on Tuesday night in a balmy Philadelphia which saw the much-changed Blues comfortably wrap up 2nd place in the group - and arguably a much more favourable route to the final...

Then, attention turns to Charlotte and Saturday's last 16 meeting with Portuguese powerhouse Benfica.

With so much history between the two clubs - it would be remise of Matt not to conduct a quiz...

We'll be back on Monday to review Saturday's Benfica showdown and hopefully have a quarterfinal to look forward to!

HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Liam Twomey and Sam Parkin

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We didn't want to go to Miami anyway...

Matt Davies-Adams has got The Athletic's Chelsea experts Liam Twomey and Simon Johnson alongside him to look back on the 3-1 defeat by Flamengo in Philadelphia which means there's work to do if they want to progress to the knockout stages of the Club World Cup.

We talk Nicolas Jackson's red, more confusing selection and tactical decisions, Cole Palmer's struggles and whether we should be cutting this group more slack given the circumstances...

So it's a shootout for second place in the group on Tuesday night in Philly as Enzo Maresca's side take on Es Tunis. What can we expect from them - and what do we want to see from Chelsea as they look to bounce back from Friday's disappointment?

Elsewhere, we react to the news that Mykhailo Mudryk has been charged by the FA with violating its anti-doping rules - and could now face up to a four-year ban.

We'll be back on Thursday to discuss all the fallout from the ES Tunis game - and hope that the Blues have set up a round of 16 tie to look forward to on Saturday night!

HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

22,137...

Matt Davies-Adams has got The Athletic's Liam Twomey and Luke Bosher alongside him to look back on Chelsea's opening Club World Cup victory, beating LAFC 2-0 in a much less than half empty Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

We discuss the bizarre atmosphere inside an arena that's intended to house 71,000 raucous spectators - analyse the contributions of Nicolas Jackson and Liam Delap who'll be vying for that starting No. 9 position - and the balance of the team with Enzo Fernandez having to be satisfied with a goal off the bench. Plus - a bonus bit of Olivier Giroud who has rather fond memories of his time at Stamford Bridge!

Next up in the competition the Blues are off to Philadelphia to take on a Flamengo side who sit top of the table in the ongoing Brazilian Serie A - and are managed by Filipe Luís and have Jorginho amongst their ranks! Will it prove a step up in quality?

And finally - get yourselves ready for the VisitMalta Weekender (!) at Stamford Bridge... we discuss the bizarre truncated pre-season that Enzo Maresca and the players are having to contend with with Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan lined up as opponents in the week before the start of the new Premier League season.

We'll be back next week to look back on Chelsea's remaining CWC group games against Flamengo and ES Tunis as they look to secure safe passage to the next round of the competition and book a trip to Miami...

HOST: Matt Davies-Adams

WITH: Liam Twomey and Luke Bosher

PRODUCER: Lucy Oliva

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.