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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jamie Kemble

What we spotted at Chelsea training ahead of Barnsley FA Cup clash as Christian Pulisic returns

The latest images from Cobham are in, and Chelsea are in good spirits ahead of their FA Cup clash with Barnsley.

Chelsea return to cup action at Oakwell on Thursday night as they take on Championship outfit Barnsley, hoping to avoid 2008's shock defeat to the Tykes in the same competition.

The Blues have been in fine form of late, winning three of their last four Premier League games and drawing the other, Thomas Tuchel having quite the impact so far.

Chelsea have been putting the yards in at Cobham ahead of the Barnsley clash as they look to continue their fine run of form, and here is what we learned from the latest images from the session.

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Pulisic is back

Christian Pulisic missed Chelsea's win over Sheffield United due to family issues with Tuchel saying: "Christian has some family issues to resolve and family is always first so we decided to give him a rest for this game.”

But the American is now back in action, and he appeared to be in good spirits during training, smiling with teammates and featuring prominently.

The 22-year-old has struggled with muscular injuries this season, missing six games through injury, including one he missed through coronavirus, but he appears to be fully fit and ready to face Barnsley.

Christian Pulisic plays handball in Chelsea training (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Handball!

Most of the training pictures actually showed the Chelsea stars playing handball with Tuchel continuing to use alternative games to keep spirits high and to keep things fun.

Last month, Tuchel had players training with a tiny football instead of the usual size five, and he now has them using their hands rather than feet.

The players appeared to be loving it with competitiveness among the Blues' squad appearing to be high and smiles aplenty.

Timo Werner was even spotted taking a go in goal, while Cesar Azpilicueta couldn't resist the chance to wrestle Mason Mount to the floor.

Snoods up

Almost everyone in the UK has been feeling the cold this week with temperatures dipping and snow taking hold again in parts of the country.

Cobham wasn't much warmer and a number of players resorted to snoods in a bid to stay warm.

Emerson Palmieri, Mount, Tammy Abraham, Jorginho and others were all barely identifiable beyond their numbers as they took to the field, all donning snood, as made famous by former Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez.

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