Chelsea chief Marina Granovskaia takes Thomas Tuchel and his staff out for dinner

Thomas Tuchel and his backroom staff enjoyed a meal out with Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia in London ahead of their return to action this weekend.

The German boss was pictured with Granovskaia and a number of his first-team staff in a busy restaurant in the capital on Wednesday night.

Tuchel is known to boast a strong professional relationship with both Granovskaia and Chelsea technical director Petr Cech since replacing Frank Lampard as boss just over 12 months ago.

The pair were all smiles as they posed for a picture alongside Chelsea's resident magician David Redfearn, who performed for them on the night.

In the picture, Tuchel is holding up a playing card as though he had just been on the receiving end of one of Redfearn's tricks.

Redfearn posted the picture on Instagram, writing: 'What an honour! Performed magic last night to the total gentleman Thomas Tuchel, Marina Granovskaia and the Chelsea backroom staff. #magician'

Also in attendance appeared to be first-team coach Arno Michels, assistant coach Anthony Barry and analyst Benjamin Weber, among other staff members, as they enjoyed some down time ahead of a busy run of fixtures.

It is further proof that Tuchel's job at Stamford Bridge appears to be secure, despite a disappointing run of form that has seen them lose ground in the Premier League title race.

The Blues have won just three of their last 10 Premier League games - a similar underwhelming record that proved fatal for Lampard 12 months ago.

In that run of games there have been defeats by Manchester City and West Ham, as well as draws with Everton, Wolves, Brighton (twice) and Liverpool.

But Tuchel, his staff and his players have had the winter break to assess things and will be back in action in the FA Cup against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.

Despite dropping off the pace in the league, there are plenty of opportunities for Tuchel to add to his trophy collection in the coming months.

The FA Cup and the Champions League - the Blues play Lille in the last-16 - are both still up for grabs while they have the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool on February 27 and will head to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup this month.

January was a quiet month for Tuchel in the transfer market, failing to recruit a wing back despite their injuries in that position.

In fact, reports earlier this week suggested Tuchel didn't push for any new faces because he has a firm list of targets for the summer.

The Blues are without first-choice pair Ben Chilwell (knee) and Reece James (hamstring) due to injuries at present, with the former out for the rest of the season and the latter nearing a comeback.

Chelsea tried and failed to recall Emerson Palmieri on loan from Lyon, while decided against making a move for Lucas Digne before Everton sold him to Aston Villa.

But, according to the Athletic, the club were focused on the bigger picture by pursuing their main targets in the summer rather than looking for stop-gap alternatives in the January transfer window.

They cite that Sevilla's Jules Kounde, West Ham talisman Declan Rice and Monaco's Aurelien Tchouameni are high on Tuchel's wish list at the end of the season.