THE HARD WORK BEGINS

After some hard running, the Chelsea first team squad were finally able to get the balls out on Wednesday afternoon as pre-season training gets into full swing.

The reward for many miles of running was a series of ball games, all played out under the watchful eye of Felipe Scolari.

After a stretching session to ease some aching muscles, the players split into two groups to practice short passing, before going solo and practicing their samba-style keepy-uppy skills.

With some impressive touches shown, despite the tired legs, there was time for some competition, with each player having to defend his ball from the rest, while trying to knock everybody else out of the circle.

Finally, there was some longer passing exercises and a warm down.

It will certainly have been a pleasant change for the players, who had spent hours building up their base level of fitness with timed endurance runs over the past two days.

On Thursday, it is expected that the players who have been on international duty over the summer will return to Cobham to join up with preparations for the 2008/9 season.