Chelsea travel to Kazakhstan in the Conference League to play Astana in a gruelling midweek trip.
The Blues have taken a young squad with many highly-rated talents set for a debut in the freezing conditions of Almaty.
Enzo Maresca will hope to maintain the good form following a thrilling comeback victory at Tottenham on Sunday, with Cole Palmer thriving, before turning attention back to league matters and a Sunday evening kick-off against Brentford.
Chelsea are top of the Conference League, level with Legia Warszawa, with just two games remaining against Astana and Shamrock Rovers back at Stamford Bridge on 19 December.
Follow all the latest build-up to the early kick-off in the Conference League in our live blog below:
Disasi on the cold temperatures
When asked about the cold temperatures expected for tonight’s match Axel Disasi said: “We just have to put on two pairs of gloves and be ready to compete in these conditions.
“We all know the conditions of these games, it’s eight hour flight and minus 11, so download some movies to watch on the plane, be ready to fight and keep first place.”
Maresca on Chelsea’s long trip to Astana
“Eight hours [one way] is not a normal time [to travel] for a game, but we have to go there, we have to play and we want to try to do our best, thinking also about the next game,” said Enzo Maresca ahead of this match.
Chelsea are currently top of the Conference League table with four wins from four and have taken a bunch of youngsters with them for this trip.
Astana strong domestically
Astana have a very strong domestic record. They finished the league season in second place last month ending the campaign just one point behind eventual winners Kairat.
With temperatures tilting below freezing, Grigoriy Babayan’s team then lifted the League Cup by beating Jenis 2-0 and now they are looking to progress further in European competition.
Chelsea top of the table
As expected Chelsea are sitting at the top of the Conference League table. They have won all four of their matches so far and have 12 points from an available 12 with a goal difference of +15.
Astana vs Chelsea
Astana XI: Seisen, Bartolec, Kalaica, Kazukolovas, Vorogovskiy, Ebonh, Chinedu, Tomasov, Marochkin, Camara, Amanovic
Bench: Zarutskiy, Condric, Bystrov, Kuat, Ahanonu, Beisebekov, Osei, Astanov, Basmanov, Gripshi, Karimov, Zhaksylyk
Cold temperatures expected
About three hours before kick off the temperature around the ground was five degrees below zero. By the time the game gets underway that is expected to dip to nearer -10 which means both teams will have to adapt to the conditions as well as each other.
An added layer of difficulty for Chelsea.
Astana vs Chelsea
Starts for Josh Acheampong, Tyrique George and Samuel Rak-Sakyi in Astana.
Astana vs Chelsea
Chelsea team to play Astana:
Chelsea XI: Jorgensen, Acheampong, Disasi, Tosin, Veiga, Dewsbury-Hall, Rak-Sakyi, George, Chukwuemeka, Neto, Guiu
Bench: Bergstrom, Merrick, Dyer, Vale, Olise, Ampah, Murray-Campbell, Wilson, Mheuka