CHELSEA will battle the elements when they face Astana in the Conference League.
The Blues will be hoping to pull of a rapid raid when playing in Kazakhstan.
Enzo Maresca’s side will undergo a 16-hour and 7,000-mile round trip to the Chinese border to face Astana in subzero conditions.
The temperature could drop as low as -13C during the Chelsea match.
The Premier League giants will be aided by Astana’s special stadium.
The Astana Arena has a capacity of 30,000 and a retractable roof to help protect those inside.
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The stadium and pitch can also be heated in order to add some warmth when the temperature drops.
It cost £145million to construct and was completed in 2009.
Chelsea have won every single game in this group stage so far and should not be concerned about Astana, who finished second in the Kazakhstan Premier League this year.
Maresca said: “I will take many layers.
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“It’s a big difference. But we have to go, we have to play, we have to try to do our best and to try to adapt to the conditions that we’re going to face there.
“I played in something similar, it was the worst in Ukraine. We played with more or less the same temperature.”
On top of their usual preparations, Chelsea’s players were also having to pack extra gloves for the game and download hours of movies for the flight.
Axel Disasi, who has the Netflix series Senna ready to watch, added: “We just have to put on gloves and be ready to compete in these conditions.
“We all know the conditions of these games, its eight hour flight and -13 so download some movies to watch on the plane, be ready, put on two pairs of gloves and compete in the game because at the end we just have to fight and keep this first-place.”
Instead of travelling and training at their opponents facilities, as the Blues have done for previous Conference League trips, the squad prepared at their Cobham base yesterday.
The group boarded the eight-hour flight, which takes them across Europe, between Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East, at Gatwick yesterday afternoon.
They will be back home at 6am on Friday morning, when preparations for Brentford will already have begun.
Maresca and his staff will try to keep the players on English time given the quick turnaround, with everyone eating before bed despite the fact they landed at 3am local time in Almaty.
While they are doing everything to keep the squad fresh, the Italian hopes no one who travels to Kazakhstan will have to be involved against the Bees.
He added: “You never know because the ones that are not involved, first of all, they’re going to be training.
“They have to train well.
“You never know if we need one of the guys that are going to play Astana on Sunday again.
“Ideally, we prefer not because we’re going to land at six o’clock in the morning on Friday and it’s not normal for one of them to land at six o’clock in the morning and then play again on Sunday.
“So hopefully not, but in case we need to, they’re going to make the effort.”
Disasi added: “As a player we like to play every game but at the same time you have to be clever.
“With a lot of games like we have, you can’t play every game. We have a big squad and everyone has to take his chances.
“That’s why when you have the opportunity to play you have to perform and show you have quality.
“At this moment we did well even if sometimes you can feel as a player you want to play every game but it’s not possible.
“We fly eight hours and then play Sunday so we have to be clever and think of things like this.”
The trip to Astana will also see the return of youngster Josh Acheampong to the squad.
Acheampong, an 18-year-old defender, was frozen out of the Chelsea squad until he agreed a new contract earlier this season.
A deal is yet to be fully completed, but Maresca suggested an agreement is close – meaning the academy graduate is in line to start.
Maresca said: “He’s in the squad and probably he’s going to play from the start.
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“With Josh it’s quite clear. We all love Josh. The club loves Josh. I love Josh.
“We are trying to find an agreement with the players. We are close. We are almost there.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
