Six Chelsea stars have made an early return to first team training in the hope of impressing Graham Potter ahead of his first Premier League game in charge of the Blues this weekend.
The majority of the squad have been away on international duty during the two week break, with plenty taking on final preparations with their countries ahead of November’s World Cup, but will soon return to west London ahead of Saturday’s clash with Crystal Palace.
But a number of Chelsea stars have made an early return to Cobham to get back to work under the watchful eye of Potter as they look to stake their claim for a place in the side for the trip to Selhurst Park.
Potter granted those who were not called up for international duty a period of time off last week, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Trevoh Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga and N'Golo Kante were all in training on Monday.
The 47-year-old has only been in charge for three weeks and has seen his players in action just once, as they drew 1-1 with RB Salzburg in a Champions League Group E fixture on September 14, although there was a behind-closed-doors friendly with his former club Brighton three days later.
But the six first team stars who were not representing their countries have got ahead of schedule with Monday's return to training and will be hoping to benefit from extra time with their new boss as they aim to land a starting spot in Saturday’s clash with the Eagles.
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Indeed, Kante is a huge boost to the Blues boss after struggling with injury this season. Mendy withdrew from Senegal’s squad as he continues to recover from a knee injury that has kept him out of the last two fixtures, but he will be hopeful of reclaiming the no.1 spot from Arrizabalaga as he aims to kickstart his season following a difficult start.
At the same time, however, the Spanish goalkeeper will be hoping to retain his place in the starting lineup, especially now that Thomas Tuchel has departed. Under the German, Kepa started just 13 times last season as he lost his place between the sticks to Mendy.
In defence, Chalobah will be desperate to add to his solitary appearance this season, having remained way down the pecking order following the arrivals of Kalidou Koulibaly and Wesley Fofana over the summer. However, Potter trialled him in a midfield role in the 2-1 friendly win over Brighton, so there may be a chance for him to fulfil that position this weekend.
Loftus-Cheek has seen his luck change this season after missing large amounts of the previous campaign through injury and squad selection, with the Englishman starting five of Chelsea’s six Premier League fixtures in a new role on the right, and will be hoping to continue that run by impressing Potter in training this week.
Finally, summer signing Aubameyang will have the biggest point to prove after failing to impress in his two appearances since joining the club from Barcelona this season. In two games against Dinamo Zagreb and RB Salzburg in the Champions League, he failed to record a single shot on target.
And now is the time to prove that he is worthy of retaining his place in attack on Saturday, with there being no guarantee that Potter will favour his services up front, while Kai Havertz’s double for Germany against England on Monday already provides tough competition.
