Amid the backdrop of Roman Abramovich being sanctioned by the UK government, Chelsea being for sale, and the club requesting Saturday's FA Cup tie against Middlesbrough is played behind closed doors after being unable to sell tickets, Thomas Tuchel and his players hit the training pitches at Cobham this afternoon.
Preparing for tomorrow's Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Lille was the focus. However, only those within the squad truly know if that is possible given all the current off-field distractions.
The show goes on, however. And tomorrow Chelsea will hope to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and continue their attempt to defend the European Cup they claimed last May.
Tuchel's side head to Lille (via plane) in a strong position. The first leg between the two sides ended in a 2-0 victory for the Blues – Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic were on the scoresheet.
That duo were both involved in today's session at Cobham and were joined by several important members of the squad who were returning from injuries. There were also a trio from the Development Squad called up.
And that is where we begin the things we spotted from the session at Cobham, the beginning of which was open to the media.
James and Hudson-Odoi train...
Both Reece James and Callum Hudson-Odoi were absent for the weekend victory over Newcastle United. The former due to a muscular issue while the latter was nursing an Achilles problem.
But both James and Hudson-Odoi were back on the grass at Cobham this afternoon and could be in contention to feature against Lille. But Tuchel stressed in his pre-match press conference no risks would be taken.
"It will be a very, very tight race, so this decision we will take later, after the training sessions," the Chelsea head coach said. "But as you know they were not involved [against Newcastle] and the injuries they had, let's see if this is worth the risk or if it's even possible, it will be very, very tight."
And the skipper is back
Also absent against Newcastle was Cesar Azpilicueta, who came off midway through last Thursday's victory over Norwich City due to illness. That forced Tuchel to get creative and he drafted in Trevoh Chalobah at right-back against the Magpies. Such an experiment is unlikely to be required again.
Tuchel has confirmed that Azpilicueta is ready to start against Lille. As is Marcos Alonso, who was an unused substitute at the weekend as he continued his recovery from Covid.
Youngsters step up
Throughout this season, Tuchel has called upon players from the club's Development Squad to fill out his squad for sessions at Cobham. Today was no different.
Dylan Williams, signed from Derby Country in January, was involved once more. As was versatile defender Bashir Humphreys.
Harvey Vale, meanwhile, remains with the senior squad. The 19-year-old has spent much of the past two months working under Tuchel and will hope to add to his four first-team appearances as the campaign progresses.
Ziyech helps out Lukaku
It's not been an easy 2022 so far Romelu Lukaku. The year started with the Belgian being omitted from the Chelsea squad after his controversial interview with Sky Italia and then he struggled to perform on his return to the starting XI.
Goals in the Club World Cup semi-final and final did alleviate some of the pressure, but then Lukaku produced his seven-touch display against Crystal Palace. He has started just one game since.
Kai Havertz has stepped up as Chelsea's primary number nine in recent weeks and Lukaku has largely been confined to the substitutes bench. It's hardly the position he'd have envisaged being in when he rejoined the Blues in the summer for a club-record £97.5million.
Tuchel has urged Lukaku to keep working; that is what Belgium's all-time top scorer did at Cobham today. And he does have good friend Hakim Ziyech looking out for him, as evidenced midway through the session as the Moroccan appeared to remove fluff from Lukaku's beard.
