Freezing conditions greeted the Chelsea players at Cobham this morning as our preparation for the visit of Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday continued.

 

The training pitches were – thanks to undersoil heating – not covered in a thick frost and that enabled the Chelsea coaching staff to put the players through their paces.

Christopher Nkunku was once again with the first-team group; the Frenchman is in the reconditioning phase of his recovery from a knee injury sustained in pre-season against Borussia Dortmund.

Christo was involved in today’s session

 

Whether he completes his comeback against Brighton remains to be seen. Pochettino stated at his pre-match press conference that a decision would not be taken on Nkunku’s fitness until after our training session tomorrow (Saturday).

The Chelsea head coach said: ‘There is still one training session more. We will see what is going on tomorrow and see if some players can be available.’

Sunday’s game will have extra significance for Robert Sanchez and Moises Caicedo (below). The two players swapped the south coast for south west London in the summer and will face their former teammates for the first time.

Moi keeping warm!

 

Chelsea have already faced Brighton twice in Pochettino’s tenure. The first instance came in pre-season while the second was in the Carabao Cup third round. The Blues were victorious on both occasions.

Yet Pochettino does not expect an easy afternoon on Sunday – and he wants a reaction from his players after last weekend’s disappointing defeat to Newcastle United at St James’ Park.

‘We were tough in our analysis and tough is to tell the truth and show things we didn’t do,’ Pochettino explained. ‘It’s not to blame just them, it’s about blaming everyone, and ourselves first.

A much-needed warm-up

 

‘Maybe our approach wasn’t right and that is about us paying attention and having a different approach in the future.

‘We are a young team and sometimes maybe we have to be tough. Sometimes, we may need to be nice, and we need to choose the way we are going to express ourselves and translate the ideas.

‘I feel happy now because the week was good, but of course, I am not happy after the last game and we know really well we need to perform at the weekend and recover the points we lost against Newcastle.’

Jesus Perez issues instructions

The visit of Brighton begins a busy December for Chelsea. Pochettino’s side will play eight matches in all competitions, but the Argentine coach has stressed he is not looking beyond Sunday’s contest.

‘What I want to see at the [end of the] weekend, on Sunday, is three points more on the table,’ said the Chelsea head coach. ‘Then we prepare for the game against Manchester United. The most important thing is taking it game by game.’

Cole on the grass