There was a festive feel to training at Cobham this morning as Enzo Maresca and his Chelsea players began preparations for our Boxing Day encounter with Fulham at Stamford Bridge.
Having been afforded a day off following our trip to face Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday, the Blues reconvened at our Surrey training base for a Christmas Eve workout.
Head coach Enzo Maresca oversaw this morning's session and will do the same tomorrow, Christmas Day. There is little time for the Italian and his players to rest and relax over the festive period, but it comes with the territory of competing for Premier League points.
Fulham's visit to Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day presents an opportunity for the Blues to add three more to their tally and extend an unbeaten run across all competitions which stands at 12 matches.
But Maresca is under no illusion of the challenge Marco Silva's side will pose. He said: 'They have been together many seasons since the Championship and know each other very well.
'It’s quite clear what they do on and off the ball but in this moment they may have some injuries, so they could change something. We will see.’
The Blues will be without Romeo Lavia for Thursday's game, although the Belgian midfielder is making good progress in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Reece James, Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile are also ruled out but Marc Cucurella is available after serving a one-match ban against Everton.
Another player Maresca will be able to call upon is Enzo Fernandez, who has been in impressive form in recent weeks.
The Blues head coach spoke in his pre-match press conference about his relationship with the Argentine and highlighted his ability to play in different midfield roles.
'We are very happy with Enzo,' he said. 'Against Everton he played for one hour as a holding midfielder with Moi (Caicedo) and then in the last 30 minutes we moved him into the pocket and dropped Malo (Gusto) next to Moi to change a little.
'In both positions, he did well and in terms of leadership, he’s growing. So we are happy with Enzo.’
The Blues head into the festive fixtures second in the Premier League, something Maresca admits he did not anticipate at this stage of the campaign.
He said: ‘We are ahead of our expectations in terms of the way we ware playing and in terms of points. But as I always say, the main focus is to see how we can improve the players and how we can game by game improve the team.’