Chelsea were set to play Drogheda United last night at the Carton House training grounds as part of our preseason preparations, but thanks to a “possible positive Covid case” identified in the camp, that match was called off at the last minute.
The unnamed player in question has been isolated from the rest of the group, and obviously mingling with another team just for a bit of fitness would’ve been frivolous at best.
“Earlier today, we had a possible positive Covid case which we are investigating. The individual has been isolated from the rest of the group. We also decided, as a precaution, to cancel tonight’s behind closed doors game against Drogheda.”
-Chelsea statement; source: The Athletic
So, what were Chelsea to do?
Fortunately, we have enough players in camp for two teams, and that’s precisely what happened with a 45-minute intra-squad friendly taking place instead (just 45 minutes presumably since that’s how much any one player was going to play against Drogheda anyway).
As usual in this secretive preseason, all we have are a few pictures, but as reported by the official website, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Armando Broja scored as the shirts and bibs battled to a 1-1 draw. Given the competitive intensity we saw in just a training ground exercise, I’m sure it was a hard-fought exercise.
We also have a new video posted by the club from earlier in the day, which gives us a few more glimpses of preseason.