While the majority of Chelsea's first-team players did recovery work at Cobham after the compelling 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, four members of Thomas Tuchel's squad will be lacing up their boots and competing in a west London derby.
Tonight at Kingsmeadow, Chelsea's Development Squad take on neighbours Fulham in Premier League 2 action. The aim will be to build upon their 7-1 opening day triumph over Wolverhampton Wanderers and to send a message to the rest of the division that their flirtation with relegation last term was a one-off.
They will be aided in that pursuit with the additions of Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell, Ethan Ampadu, and summer signing from Aston Villa, Carney Chukwuemeka. football.london understands Callum Hudson-Odoi was also pencilled in to play prior to loan interest from Premier League sides and clubs abroad escalating.
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The match has been pitched to the quartet as a valuable opportunity to increase their match fitness as, after the first two games of the Premier League campaign against Everton and Tottenham, only Chilwell has featured thus far. That is the problem Tuchel faces at this moment in time: his squad is simply too big.
The England international started against Everton in the Blues' season opener and won the decisive penalty at Goodison Park. Yet he was replaced late on by Marc Cucurella, signed from Brighton for £62million, and the Spaniard was handed the left wing-back spot against Tottenham.
That was no great surprise given Tuchel's comments about how Chilwell, signed from Leicester in 2020 for £50million, has to be managed after his recovery from a knee ligament injury suffered in November 2021. "Ben, he is very ambitious; he couldn't wait to come back to team training," Tuchel said on August 5.
"He looks better and better, but at the same time, it looks like he needs more time to adapt to the physicality of the match itself, which is absolutely normal. It is not only about training and training exercises, little pitches.
"In the end, it is a very demanding leave. We have to take care of him, it's our responsibility. We can't throw him in and see what is coming. He is impatient, we will never expect him to be fully patient. He knows, we speak a lot about it. Everything needs its time."
Meanwhile, Ampadu and Chalobah are in first-team limbo. The former hasn't officially been handed a squad number, and there is strong loan interest in the Wales international, although it's understood no final decision has been taken over Ampadu's next step as yet.
Chalobah was the breakout star of Chelsea's 2021/22 campaign, and in the 30 matches he started across all competitions, the Blues did not suffer defeat in 90 minutes. But the academy graduate's first-team role was reduced during the final weeks of last season, and he was an unused substitute against Everton and Tottenham.
And with Chelsea pushing hard to sign Wesley Fofana from Leicester City in a deal that could be worth in excess of £80million, there is a risk Chalobah's game time is further reduced. It's why – football.london has been told – several clubs across Europe have already registered their interest in signing the 23-year-old, either permanently or on loan, in the final weeks of the transfer window.
The deal that brought Chukwuemeka to Chelsea this summer is worth up to £20m, and the midfielder has been training exclusively with the first-team squad since he arrived. But he hasn't made the matchday squad for either of the Blues' opening two Premier League matches and needs minutes in order to ensure his development isn't stunted.
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