After jetting out to Abu Dhabi in the early hours of Sunday morning after beating League One Plymouth Argyle in the fourth-round of the FA Cup, the club’s official website announced that the team and all members of the travelling party landed safely.
23 players made the trip to the Middle East, with goalkeeper Edouard Mendy set to join up with the squad later on as he gears up for the Africa Cup of Nations final, which kicks-off on Sunday evening.
Despite being ruled out of the trip by Thomas Tuchel ahead of their FA Cup clash on Saturday, Reece James has been named as part of the squad.
“Reece [James] is not in team training yet, so he’s not available this weekend. And he will not travel with us yet to Abu Dhabi because he’s not back in training”, said the Chelsea boss.
James has been absent since suffering a hamstring injury when Chelsea hosted Brighton at Stamford Bridge on December 29.
After contracting Covid, Tuchel was also nowhere to be seen in the images released. The 48-year-old returned a positive test hours before Saturday’s fixture.
Chelsea’s first game is on Wednesday when they take on the winner between Al Hilal and Al Jazira. The former are the current Asian Champions League winners, with the latter acting as local representatives.
The Chelsea travelling squad:
Goalkeepers: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Marcus Bettinelli.
Defenders: Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Malang Sarr, Cesar Azpilicueta, Reece James, Kenedy, Marcos Alonso.
Midfielders: Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Saul Niguez, Ross Barkley, Mason Mount.
Forwards: Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Romelu Lukaku.