It is in the heat of Abu Dhabi that a makeshift Chelsea squad has continued to prepare for the restart of the 2022/23 campaign. There are several first-team stars included in the 25-man group that flew out to the Middle East last Sunday. Even those recovering from long-term injuries were brought along.
The week-long warm-weather training camp has been an opportunity for Chelsea head coach Graham Potter to work with a collection of his senior players, such as Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Jorginho, Armando Broja and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and also run the rule over a host of players from the Development Squad.
It's a trip that has also coincided with the return to first-team training for Reece James, who has not featured since coming off with a knee injury in the win over AC Milan at San Siro. Wesley Fofana (knee) and Ben Chilwell (hamstring) are a little further back in their recoveries. And so is Ruben Loftus-Cheek (calf), as exclusively revealed by football.london.
