Ruben Loftus-Cheek and N'Golo Kante are both set to feature in a friendly against Boreham Wood after not travelling for Chelsea's USA pre-season tour. The Blues duo were not named among the group that set off for LA last weekend due to their vaccination status.
A group of 31 players are now present in the United States, including Raheem Sterling following his transfer from Manchester City and Armando Broja, who trained for the first time on Wednesday, having not travelled with the rest of the group. The Blues are set to play Club America, Charlotte FC and Arsenal before returning to Cobham.
Chelsea also have a first-team friendly scheduled against Udinese on July 30th, but the absence of Loftus-Cheek and Kante sees them miss the bulk of the club's preparation ahead of the Premier League season. The former had been present from the start of pre-season training on July 2nd, while the latter returned earlier than other Chelsea stars who had been on international duty after departing France's squad through injury.
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A Chelsea XI will make the trip to Boreham Wood FC on Friday evening, mainly comprised of development squad stars but with the addition of some players who were involved in Tuchel's opening week of pre-season training. The Blues travel to the LV BET Stadium Meadow Park for the second time in as many seasons.
football.london understands that Loftus-Cheek and Kante are set to play 45 minutes of the match as they aim to improve their fitness ahead of the new season, while Dujon Sterling, who was also involved in first-team training before being left out of the squad for USA tour is expected to play 60 minutes.
The trio will be under the guidance of new Chelsea development sqaud boss Mark Robinson who joined the club this summer. He will be assisted by James Simmonds, who the Blues loaned to AFC Wimbledon as a coach when Robinson was in charge of the club. Simmonds spent the second half of last season coaching as an assistant to Tore Andre Flo at Sogndal in Norway.
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