It’s straight down to business for Manuel Pellegrini and his West Ham players as they will have their first training session in China tonight (Sunday).
The players only arrived in the Far East a few hours ago, flying into Shanghai then taking a high-speed train to Nanjing where they will be based for the next five days.
The Hammers have a training complex which is about half an hour’s drive from their team hotel in the city where Pellegrini and his coaching staff will continue to put the team through their paces.
Tonight’s session is expected to be a light one, having not had any activity since the 3-2 victory over Altach in their first pre-season game of the summer on Thursday afternoon.
There will be a more regular pattern of training after today for the players as they gear up for the game against Manchester City at the Nanjing Olympic Centre on Wednesday.
Pep Guardiola’s side are having a few issues getting into China as an administrative error meant they won’t be arriving until Monday and will have less time to prepare for the game against the Hammers.
Pellegrini axed nine players from the squad that travelled to Switzerland to then head to China, with first teamers Jordan Hugill and Sam Byram not making the cut for the Far East. Youngster Ben Johnson did though, as did midfielder Josh Cullen.
Football.London is currently in Nanjing with the players and we will bring you the latest news and updates from the training camp, plus press conferences with the manager and players later in the week and live coverage of the match against City next week and all the build-up to the game in Shanghai on July 20 against either Newcastle United or Wolves.
