Breaking Down Chelsea's Pre-Season Friendly Opponents

It's almost a month to the day until the new Premier League season kicks off.

Before Chelsea can even think about their opening game with Swansea City on August 8, though, they'll have plenty of action to deal with in the coming weeks.

Jose Mourinho is taking his team to North America, where they will compete in the Guinness International Champions Cup.

Unlike last season, when the Blues played lower-league teams from across England and Europe, they will be taking on some bigger names this year, including Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.

New York Red Bulls and Serie A side Fiorentina will complete their four-game schedule, with the Community Shield against Arsenal marking the official start of the 2015/16 campaign in England.

So what can we expect from the teams Chelsea will face this summer?

Omitting that clash with Arsenal, which falls in the competitive bracket, Bleacher Report takes a closer look at Chelsea's friendly opponents.

New York Red Bulls

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

Date: July 23, 2015

Kick-off: 1:10 a.m. (GMT)

Venue: Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey

League: MLS

Chelsea get their pre-season campaign started with a match against the New York Red Bulls.

Football has taken off in a big way in the Empire State these past few months, with New York City FC being the latest club to join Major League Soccer.

NYCFC's arrival means the Red Bulls have a city rival (of sorts) for the first time, with their previous grudge matches being against the likes of D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Bragging rights in the beginning stages of the New York rivalry belong firmly to Jesse Marsch's team, though.

The Red Bulls have already faced NYCFC twice in 2015, and they've won on both occasions. Their most recent victory came at Yankee Stadium last month, when goals from Bradley Wright-Phillips, Chris Duvall and Matt Miazga gave the visitors a 3-1 win.

The Red Bulls' English striker, Wright-Phillips, remains the biggest threat for Marsch's side.

Last season, he scored 27 goals to equal an MLS regular-season record. This season, he's found the back of the net six times.

He hasn't been as prolific as he would have hoped this season, but now that Wright-Phillips is a marked man in MLS, it's to be expected.

The Red Bulls are far from a one-man team, however. Mike Grella and Sacha Kljestan are key players in attack, and long-serving Dax McCarty is also influential in the midfield.

Currently sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference, there's a sense that there's more to come from the Red Bulls this season. They have enough talent to make the play-offs, and once they find their groove, they'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Paris Saint-Germain

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Date: July 25, 2015

Kick-off: 11:10 p.m. (GMT)

Venue: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

League: Ligue 1

The pre-season is about getting players fit and ready for the upcoming campaign, so matches are rarely that intense.

Managers are trying out new things, working on different tactics and allowing new signings to get acclimated.

Given the recent history between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, we can expect this matchup to be a bit more intense than the usual pre-season fare.

PSG knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League last season, drawing 2-2 after extra-time to win the tie on away goals.

Chelsea were scorned, and they'll want to get one over on their French rivals.

Add in the fact that Zlatan Ibrahimovic felt rightly aggrieved following his first-half dismissal for a lunge on Oscar, and this game has all the makings of a spectacle.

Both teams are champions of their respective leagues and have big hopes for the season.

There's going to be a lot more than early season preparation on the minds of both managers, that's for sure.

Barcelona

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Date: July 29, 2015

Kick-off: 1:10 a.m. (GMT)

Venue: FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland

League: La Liga

From facing the French champions to facing the European champions, Chelsea aren't taking any half measures in their pre-season preparations this summer.

Four days after taking on Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea will complete their North American tour with a clash against Champions League titleholders Barcelona.

Given their Copa America commitments, we can expect some of the big stars of Luis Enrique's side to be missing for this one.

Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano made it all the way to the final with Argentina, while Neymar represented Brazil in the group stages before he was banned after receiving a red card in a match against Colombia.

Barcelona still have plenty to test Chelsea's resolve, namely the talents of Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan may have started slowly in Catalonia, but by the end of 2014/15, he showed just why the club was so eager to invest in him.

Suarez is a goal machine, and in order to avoid a defeat here, Jose Mourinho will want to start his strongest defensive lineup. It'll give them a good test to see where they are in their development, too.

Whether it's pre-season or not, there are plenty of subplots whenever Chelsea and Barca come to blows. There's the Mourinho factor, those epic Champions League meetings of the past and the desire to make an early mark on a rival.

Barca will be a different proposition altogether without Messi, but they'll still draw crowds wherever they travel.

Fiorentina

Dino Panato/Getty Images

Date: August 5, 2015

Kick-off: 8 p.m. (GMT)

Venue: Stamford Bridge, London

League: Serie A

A few days after their Community Shield bout with Arsenal at Wembley, Chelsea's pre-season officially ends with a home fixture against Fiorentina.

As we now know, it'll be a Fiorentina side without Mohamed Salah, as the Egyptian turned down the opportunity to join the Viola this summer.

Salah spent part of last season on loan from Chelsea and made quite an impact in Florence, helping Vincenzo Montella's side to a top-four finish.

The manager has since departed, too, being replaced at the helm by Paulo Sousa.

The changes breed a sense of the unknown about what we can expect when Fiorentina arrive at Stamford Bridge.

Not only will Fiorentina be adjusting to life under a new manager, they will also be a couple of weeks behind Chelsea in their preparation for 2015/16.

Whereas Chelsea face Swansea City at Stamford Bridge to start the Premier League three days after this outing, the Serie A season doesn't start until August 23.

Chelsea should be fully fit and ready, so how Fiorentina compare will be interesting.

They have German forward Mario Gomez and Joaquin, who will be threats at Stamford Bridge. Meanwhile, Chelsea fans will recognise Stefan Savic in defence, as he spent a season at Manchester City in 2011/12.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.