Chelsea TV's training ground report -- available behind the Fan Club+ Plus Plus Extra Price Gouging Etc service on the official website -- threw its full positive weight behind the squad this afternoon, assuring us that the 90-minute training session was lively, sharp, competitive, and even a bit feisty towards the end as the players were split into 3 teams of six each for a mini tournament. Guus Hiddink sure seems to love just playing small-sided games in training, does he not? I imagine it's the football training equivalent of putting on a documentary movie in class instead of going to the textbook.
Shots from training today #cfc - 21 players involved including Oscar and Hazard again, pic.twitter.com/UodyKLtOFn
— Abiram J (@aj_cfc2) April 19, 2016
But beyond the fluff of trying to build up the team (no, they're not "winding down" yet) after the manager himself claimed that some of them might already be thinking about the Euros (and how he's basically okay with that!), the most important part was the revelation that Eden Hazard is basically fully fit, was "very lively" and should be ready to make his first start in six weeks for Chelsea. Chelsea's reigning Player of the Year had been sidelined by a series of injuries for most of Hiddink's tenure, the latest of which was a reoccurrence of the hip injury he picked up in December.
With just one win from seven in all competitions, all this liveliness from the squad better translate to the actual game, too.