Chelsea

It's not every summer you get the chance to see your favorite Premier League club stateside, but an unprecedented number of teams from England's top flight are now planning a preseason invasion before the 2023-24 campaign begins on August 12.

The latest announcement is the unveiling of the Premier League Summer Series USA 2023 schedule, stadiums, clubs and locations. Beginning July 22, six squads will contest nine matches in five cities over the space of nine days.

LONDON - Frank Lampard has returned to Chelsea as caretaker manager until the end of the season following the sacking of Graham Potter, the Premier League club confirmed on Thursday.

The club's record goalscorer and fans' favorite previously spent 19 months as manager at Stamford Bridge before being dismissed in January 2021.

In a shocking twist to Chelsea’s managerial merry-go-round, the London club is talking to former player and manager Frank Lampard for a potential reunion. Lampard would be a caretaker manager until the end of the season as the club figures out a long-term manager.

Lampard oversaw Chelsea from July 2019 through January 2021 when he was replaced by Thomas Tuchel. Lampard then spent a year managing Everton from January 2022 until January 2023. He was sacked after Everton sat 19th in the league.

LONDON — Goals from striker Ollie Watkins and captain John McGinn earned Aston Villa all three points in a pulsating 2-0 Premier League mid-table win at Chelsea on Saturday.

The result sent Villa into ninth in the table, leapfrogging Chelsea, who dropped into the bottom half.

Watkins took his chance in the 18th minute after a mistake from retreating defender Marc Cucurella, who headed a long ball into his path and he calmly lobbed his shot over advancing Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

With club soccer returning this weekend American fans might be asking questions like: Why is Pulisic not playing? Where’s Gio Reyna? 

Christian Pulisic will likely miss Chelsea’s Premier League game vs. Aston Villa on Saturday while Gio Reyna is set to sit out Borussia Dortmund’s massive Der Klassiker clash with Bayern Munich. Both American players are dealing with “severe colds.”

Lyon, the defending champions, have been knocked out of the UEFA Women's Champions League at the quarterfinal stage no thanks to an incredibly soft VAR-assisted penalty decision at 120+8' that gave undeserved life to Chelsea.

After taking a 1-0 lead in France last week thanks to Guro Reiten's lone goal, Chelsea did what they largely always do under Emma Hayes in the Champions League by disappointing for 90 minutes.

MUNICH — Bayern Munich parted ways with coach Julian Nagelsmann on Friday and appointed former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel as his successor, with the German champions in second place in the Bundesliga.

Nagelsmann, 35, had taken over in 2021 and led the Bavarians to their 10th straight German league crown but failed to win any other silverware last season.

Bayern crashed out in the German Cup second round after a demolition by Borussia Moenchengladbach and were then eliminated from the Champions League in a quarter-final defeat to Spanish underdogs Villarreal last term.