CHELSEA are set to play a behind closed doors friendly against West London rivals Brentford as they beef up their mid-season plans.
The Blues have so far only played Aston Villa during the World Cup break as Graham Potter looks to get his players up to speed.
GettyChelsea stars not at the World Cup are training before the Premier League season gets back underway[/caption]
His side lost 1-0 after an early John McGinn goal but the friendly was overshadowed after Armando Broja suffered a potentially serious knee injury.
Brentford will now travel to Chelsea’s Cobham training ground for a match on December 20.
The game will be played without fans and is expected to be the last warm-up game before the London side are thrust back into competitive action.
England’s Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher may be involved in the game with the trio expected back at the end of the week after their adventures in Qatar.
Kai Havertz, Cesar Azpilicueta, Christian Pulisic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy will all be returning after their countries were also knocked out the World Cup early.
Mateo Kovacic and Hakim Ziyech will likely not be available for the Brentford friendly with Croatia and Morocco respectively in World Cup semi-finals this week.
Chelsea return to Premier League action on December 27 when they face Bournemouth as Potter bids to get the show back on the road.
The club’s chaotic season before the extended international break saw them end up eighth, 8 points off the top 4.
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Things did not start too badly with an opening weekend win at Everton followed by a draw against Tottenham where Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte almost came to blows.
The confrontation would be one of the last memorable moments of Tuchel’s Stamford Bridge reign before he was turfed out by the new owners.
Graham Potter then took Chelsea on a nine game unbeaten run with the highlights being two wins over AC Milan in the Champions League.
But form suddenly disintegrated with Chelsea being battered at Potter’s former club Brighton before damaging losses to Arsenal and top-4 rivals Newcastle.