Chelsea’s UEFA mandated open training session yesterday produced a few interesting observations, and the press were then able to ask Enzo Maresca about them in the subsequent press conference.
One very notable absentee was Mykhailo Mudryk. The winger has been a star of our Conference League campaign so far, and would have been looking for another chance to shred a small side with his speed and shooting. But having missed out even on a place on the bench for our last two Premier League games due to injury, Mudryk was still absent yesterday and now won’t travel to Kazakhstan.
Missing two full weeks also probably rules him out from facing Brentford on Sunday – at least from the start. That creates a little bit of a shortage out wide.
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Packed Chelsea preseason training, group generic.
A group photo of Chelsea celebrating a goal at Leicester. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)
Filip Jorgensen gets congratulations from Enzo Maresca. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)
Pedro Neto picked up a booking against Tottenham last weekend which suspends him from the game. That means Noni Madueke will stay and rest at Cobham this week and play on the right, with Jadon Sancho on the left.
“He is going to stay [in England], yeah,” Maresca confirmed of Madueke, while adding in Neto’s case that “it wasn’t a useless yellow card” and that “it was the right moment to do the foul.”
Packed Chelsea preseason training, group generic.
Packed Chelsea preseason training, group generic.
Academy players set for further chances
The absence of Neto and Madueke and Mudryk tomorrow night means more room for academy players to get involved in attacking areas.
We’ve seen the number of Cobham graduates used in these games increasing through the campaign as injuries, illness and suspension hit, and as we get closed to qualifying automatically.
The fact that anyone playing tomorrow will have to fly 8 hours today means this is the most likely game yet to be crammed full of academy talent, and we can’t wait to see who is able to impress.