The Chelsea players were out on the training pitches at Cobham this morning as the finishing touches were put to our preparation for tomorrow's UEFA Conference League tie against Astana.
With a long trip to Kazakhstan ahead for many in the squad, it was an early start for the Blues on a fresh and chilly morning in Surrey.
And it will only get colder for those who will travel, with temperatures expected to be well below freezing for the match in Almaty.
However, Blues head coach [Enzo Maresca](/en/teams/profile/enzo-maresca) has already confirmed that not everybody involved in this morning's session will make the long trip east, with rotation paramount as we work our way through this month's busy fixture schedule.
‘Some of them will be here, some of them will fly with us,' said our head coach. 'We try to manage in the same way we have done until today. We have many young players with us, the rest will be working.
'The target since we started the season is to allow all of them, no matter the competition, to play 90 minutes every week. Most of those who play tomorrow would have also played against Southampton last week. So we will try to keep them in the regular situation of playing 90 minutes every week. This is what we’re trying to do.
'We have the session this morning and then we fly there. We will arrive, have dinner, and then go to bed. They are five hours ahead of us so when we wake up tomorrow it will already be midday.
'We will be there for less than 24 hours so it’s more the temperature and the flight because on Friday we will arrive back in London at six o'clock in the morning and then have a game on Sunday.’
A number of youngsters were involved in today's training session, and several players from our Academy have already featured in this season's Conference League campaign.
That trend is expected to continue in Almaty, as Maresca confirmed defender [Josh Acheampong](/en/teams/profile/josh-acheampong) is likely to start against Astana and several other players from our Academy sides are set to travel with the squad.
'For the younger ones, it is to enjoy this moment because it’s always nice to be involved in the first team and involved in a European competition,' he added.