The Blues reported to Cobham this morning before getting back to work ahead of two home fixtures in four days.
We host Noah at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening in the UEFA Conference League, before Arsenal make the short journey across London for a mouthwatering derby in the final Premier League fixture before international football takes centre stage. As is often the case, training today began in the gym.
In the hard-fought draw at Manchester United, Moises Caicedo was our hero. The Ecuadorian’s brilliant volley earned us a point after we had gone behind, and he expressed his delight at making such a telling contribution in the final third.
‘My teammates sometimes joke with me because I don’t score too many goals, but my job is just to help the team in any way I can,’ said Caicedo.
‘This time was scoring a goal to win us one point. I am so happy for the goal and the equaliser because we didn’t lose the game. It was important for the team.’
We were behind for less than five minutes at Old Trafford, and Levi Colwill praised the reaction of the team and, of course, Caicedo’s contribution.
‘You’ve got two ways to react, you either put your head down or you get on with it and try to get the equalising goal, which obviously we did,’ he said.
‘Moi is an amazing player and we’ve got so many of them that, when you’re struggling in a game or when you’re not scoring, they pull out that magic.’
Christopher Nkunku is one of those players, and the French attacker will be hoping to keep up his outstanding record in the Conference League.
Including our play-off tie against Servette, Nkunku has scored in all four European fixtures so far this term. Let’s hope we get to see his balloon again on Thursday!
There was a fun element to training to accompany the competitiveness and physical tasks, with a game of tag bringing smiles to the players' faces.
The players will return to training on Wednesday for their final preparations before the Noah fixture the following night.