The reason why Joao Felix has not travelled with the Chelsea squad for their Conference League fixture against FC Astana has been revealed.

Cole Palmer wasn’t named in the squad, making him unavailable for this game. Joao Felix is the front-runner to operate in his position. Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho make way for Tyrique George and Mykhailo Mudryk on the wings with Marc Guiu playing as a striker instead of Nicolas Jackson.

Chelsea will make a round trip of over 6,000km on Thursday when the visit Kazakhstan to face Astana in the Conference League in freezing conditions. It's unlikely to be a journey that Chelsea players or staff are overly excited about given the length and difficulty of such a venture but the Blues will be determined to make it worthwhile on the pitch.