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Scott Trotter

Mason Mount missing, Reece James proves Thomas Tuchel wrong - Things spotted in Chelsea training

It was a quick turnaround for Chelsea following their drawn out FA Cup win over Plymouth Argyle.

The Blues took 120 minutes, 41 shots and an extra time winner from Marcos Alonso to overcome their League One opponents on Saturday, before flying out to Abu Dhabi on the same day to begin preparations for the Club World Cup.

Chelsea sent a 23-man squad out to the United Arab Emirates, with Edouard Mendy expected to join later in the week following his AFCON success as the 24th member.

Thomas Tuchel is also missing from the group of course after testing postive for Covid-19.

Nevertheless the Blues were out on the training pitches on Sunday making use of the facilities at the Ritz Carlton.

Here's what we noticed...

No Mason Mount

The England international did not take to the training pitches on Sunday, after his substitution against Plymouth. Mount was replaced by Saul Niguez after 97 minutes after feeling a problem after shooting during extra time.

It should perhaps comes as little surprise, with Arno Michaels suggesting further examination on the injury would take place after the game. The Chelsea coach hoped it would not be a problem for the Club World Cup however.

He said: "Hopefully not, we will see. He felt an injury in extra time with this shot on goal. Only by this shot – it wasn't a serious problem during the game – it was only when he had the shot he realised he had quick he felt pain and so we took him off.

"We will see. There will be further exams. Hopefully, it's not too bad but right now I can't promise what the situation is."

Hakim Ziyech and Cesar Azpilicueta had also been substituted with small problems but they were both involved in the session.

Reece James continues to train alone

It was surprising to see Reece James in the squad at all, as he continues to recover from the injury he suffered against Brighton in December. Ahead of the FA Cup fourth round Tuchel went as far as to suggest that James would not travel at all for the Club World Cup.

The 48-year-old said: "He is not in team training yet, so maybe that answers the question.

"After a couple of weeks, he will need some time in team training to get the confidence back. He does not travel with us to the Club World Cup."

However, the full back was named among the squad that flew to the UAE, though he remains out of team training.

James trained alone in the vicinity to continue his rehabilitation from the hamstring injury.

Split session

It's safe to say Chelsea did not expect to be forced to extra time by Plymouth.

The Blues finally had the opportunity to rest after a relentless December and January fixtures list but didn't do themselves any favours upon their return. Michaels does not believe it should be a problem heading into the Club World Cup however.

He said: "Hopefully not. We had to accept that after the break we had, it was tough against an opponent who was very well organised. To play 120 minutes was not the target for today we have to say. We had a bit of little injuries, hopefully only little injuries. So we will see.

"It is not easy to come back after the break and play a game like this. Even if for me, for a long time, it was a good game."

Players who started the game on Saturday, outside of Mason Mount, took part in a recovery session, as did Marcos Alonso and Kai Havertz who entered the field after 45 and 64 minutes respectively.

However, Andreas Christensen, who only played the opening 45 minutes was not among that group. The Denmark international joined Kenedy, Ross Barkley, Christian Pulisic, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Timo Werner, N'Golo Kante, Saul Niguez and Marcos Bettinelli in some passing drills

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