The early signs of Pulisic
Christian Pulisic showed a little glimpse of what Chelsea fans can expect from him after scoring a neat goal in training yesterday.
However, that is just a small snippet of what the Blues will be wanting from him and Frank Lampard is going to need him to reall shine for the club over the course of the campaign.
With Eden Hazard out the door, the Blues are going to need a new talisman, and even though he is only 20 years of age Pulisic has the skills to make it in the Premier League this season.
He is set for his first run out in a Chelsea shirt today against Kawasaki Frontale, just a few days after meeting up with the squad for the very first time.
It is going to be interesting to see where he plays. In training he started more on the left, but can play centrally like he has done for the USA or on the right like he did for Borussia Dortmund.
It's just the early signs of Pulisic's career with the Blues and his development is still going to be moving forward.
N'Golo Kante fitness
It's still amazing that N'Golo Kante managed to get through the entire Europa League final after not looking like he would even play the match at all.
The France World Cup winner was suffering from a hamstring problem, however Maurizio Sarri passed him fit for the game and he still played a big part of the succcess.
However, it is an indication of how bad the injury was that Kante didn't play a part of any of the two matches in Ireland and has been training on his own for much of pre-season.
But now Kante is back with the rest of the group, but Lampard has not risked him for the match against Kawasaki Frontale.
It will also be keen to see where Lampard will play the 28-year-old in the future, as in training he was in a deeper position and that is where we expect him to be.
Another audition for the strikers
With Tammy Abraham missing training yesterday through illness, the young forward may miss out on the game in Yokohama, but whoever leads the line needs to shine again.
Michy Batshuayi has had an impressive pre-season so far for the Blues, really pushing his place for the front position and taking the number nine position.
However, Olivier Giroud then bagged a very decent brace in the second half against St Patrick's Athletic and so the race to be the striker is really on.
No doubt there will be a lot of substitutions once again today in Japan, so the opportunities for the strikers are there to take.
More flexibility
Lampard has already shown more flexibility in the first two games of his career with the Blues than Maurizio Sarri ever did.
In the two matches in Dublin, the former Blues midfielder changed around with a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2 diamond.
Today's game against Kawasaki will be about keeping that going and finding the best formation for the players that he has at his disposal.
The 4-4-2 diamond probably looked the best over the two matches, however that was when the Blues had their strongest team out.
Today will be a good chance for more flexibility to be shown as the Blues look to push on towards the upcoming campaign.
