Chelsea vs Wrexham Prediction: Maresca to begin Blues reign with success in Santa Clara

A pre-season friendly between two of America's most popular clubs takes place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Thursday (03:00 BST) as Chelsea face... AFC Wrexham. The Welsh side have made big strides since being taken over by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2020 and will start the 2024/25 season in the English third tier after achieving back-to-back promotions.

Read on for my Chelsea vs Wrexham prediction as the Red Dragons round off their trip to the USA before one last overseas stop in Vancouver, Canada on Sunday.

Football Odds

Team News

Chelsea are missing Cole Palmer, Conor Gallagher, Marc Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo after their involvement at international tournaments for their countries this summer, with the quartet left out of the 28-man squad named by new head coach Enzo Maresca.

Blues academy graduate Trevoh Chalobah has also been left at home as the club attempt to engineer his exit.

There are plenty of star names in the squad, however, with Christopher Nkunku, Reece James and Nicolas Jackson among them, while new signings Renato Veiga, Tosin, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Marc Guiu have also travelled stateside.

Thursday's fixture will be Chelsea's first of pre-season, but Wrexham have already played twice this month, thrashing Hanley Town 5-1 on July 13 before drawing 1-1 with AFC Bournemouth in Santa Barbara on Sunday.

Paul Mullin has been a notable absentee from the Welsh club's pre-season preparations, however, as the 29-year-old striker continues his recovery from a back operation.

Left-back Jacob Mendy is also sidelined due to an Achilles injury.

Chelsea vs Wrexham Odds

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Chelsea are 2/9 to triumph on Thursday, giving them an implied win probability of 81.8%, while a Wrexham victory can be backed at 15/2, working out as an 11.8% chance.

The draw is available at 5/1, both teams to score at 1/2, and over 3.5 total goals at 4/7.

Chelsea beat Wrexham 5-0 in a pre-season friendly in North Carolina last year, and a repeat of that scoreline in the Blues' favour can be found at 16/1.

Chelsea to win & both teams to score @ 21/20

Wrexham earned a creditable draw with Bournemouth on Sunday, opening the scoring in first-half added time through a James Hill own-goal before Cherries defender Marcos Senesi struck an equaliser inside the opening seven minutes of the second half.

The Red Dragons are further along in their pre-season preparations than the Blues and will fancy their chances of unsettling the Premier League club, who are still finding their feet under a new head coach.

However, a new voice from the sideline didn't perturb Chelsea last year as they tore the Welsh side apart in the Florida Cup.

Unlike Manchester City, who named a hugely inexperienced squad for their own trip to the USA this month, Chelsea have a number of first-team players available on Thursday, and many of them have a lot to prove.

It's only a friendly, so it's difficult to be too sure, but I just think the depth of quality in the Chelsea ranks will shine through on Thursday and get Maresca off to a winning start as Blues boss.

Wrexham +2 handicap @ 6/5

However, while I think the English giants will emerge triumphant, it's worth taking a look at the +2 handicap on Wrexham, who kick off their League 1 campaign in just over two weeks.

Manager Phil Parkinson will be looking to see his players start to hit top form and fitness soon, and the fact he waited until the 68th minute to make any changes against Bournemouth suggests that they may not be far off now.

Chelsea are likely to make more alterations, and much earlier, which could cause them to lose fluency, so I don't envisage a repeat of last year's scoreline between the two sides.

Instead, I'm predicting Chelsea to edge the encounter by a goal, which would see the above selection land.

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