Kepa Arrizabalaga and Tammy Abraham trained in Japan on Sunday, and there is an update on N'Golo Kante.
It was an overcast, muggy session at the 15,000-capacity Omiya Stadium, a few miles north of the team hotel in Saitama, with the first 20 minutes open to the world’s media as well as some invited guests.
They saw the duo who missed Friday’s friendly against Kawasaki Frontale due to illness involved. Kepa and fellow keepers Willy Caballero and Jamie Cumming worked separately from the outfielders, who began with some rigorous exercises to warm up before starting work with the ball.
Meanwhile N’Golo Kante has travelled back to the UK to continue his rehabilitation for an injury connected to the knee problem he sustained at the end of last season.
There will be another training session this afternoon, and two more are scheduled tomorrow ahead of our Rakuten Cup friendly against Barcelona in Saitaima on Tuesday night. You will be able to watch the showpiece fixture live on this website or The Fifth Stand App. Click for more information on how to stream it - please note only supporters in the UK and Ireland will be able to watch our meeting with the Spanish side.
The Blues will fly home to London after the Barcelona game with a domestic friendly, against Reading a week today, next on the agenda for Frank Lampard and his players. They will then head to Austria and Germany to meet RB Salzburg and Borussia Monchengladbach respectively, before the competitive action gets underway on Sunday 11 August. Manchester United at Old Trafford are our first Premier League opponents.