Last Updated: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:47
Chelsea assistant boss Ray Wilkins has paid tribute to the Chelsea squad for returning to pre-season training in fine shape.
The Blues step up their preparations for the new season with two games this weekend in Germany against Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburg, before the Community Shield at Wembley against Manchester United on August 8.
Wilkins says pre-season is going well so far and he says the squad is looking fit and sharp ahead of the big kick-off next month.
"Things are going great, the lads have come back in reasonably good condition and that's the modern day professional, they work extremely hard to keep themselves in good shape," he said.
"It's far easier to retain fitness than it is to regain it, so the lads have taken that on board and they look very good indeed."
He added on the club's website: "It is good to have the whole group back together, it has been rather patchy over the first couple of weeks but the first boys that came in worked so hard and the younger boys did well, and now it's good to have the senior boys back.
"Them having the World Cup makes it a tad harder on the physical aspect, we can't do some of the work with the lads that are just back because it is too physical for them, but our aim is to get everybody ready for that first league game of the season.
"If we can do that then we'll have achieved our goal."