Chelsea’s players landed in Greece on Wednesday afternoon and it wasn’t long before they were working on the pitch at the Athens Olympic Stadium ahead of our Conference League match against Panathinaikos.

Blues head coach Enzo Maresca’s first task on his return to Greece – where he spent the 2009/10 season with Olympiakos – was to address the media for the pre-match press conference. And he was soon followed by Joao Felix.

The first question to Maresca concerned the fitness of Filip Jorgensen, who has started every cup competition since joining the club this summer but missed the trip to Liverpool this weekend.

But our head coach confirmed that the Denmark Under-21 goalkeeper is fully fit and will start against Panathinaikos.

Another player expected to feature is Joao Felix, and the 24-year-old discussed his blossoming on-field relationship with Christopher Nkunku when speaking to the media.

The Portugal international said: “He is a top player. We all know his qualities, we saw him do great things as a player when he was in Leipzig.

“I think we look at the game the same way and we know what each other is going to do. It’s easy to play with him and we have a good connection on the field.’

Our 22-man squad also includes four academy graduates: goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom, winger Tyrique George and two players traveling with the seniors for the first time; 19-year-old central midfielder Samuel Rak-Sakyi and teenage striker Shumaira Mheuka, who turned 17 on Sunday.

Maresca spoke very positively about both players during his pre-match press conference.

“They’ve been with us for several sessions,” Maresca said. ‘Sam has a good profile. He can play as a midfielder as well as through the lines. Shimmy, we use him as a striker and as a winger.

“I think they have good profiles, young people, and it will be a good experience for them to stay with us.

‘We also have Tyrique with us and he is already doing very well. It’s good to have them with us because we can hopefully give them some minutes and opportunities so they can grow and have different experiences.”