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Chelsea stars celebrate Christmas at Cobham… Barkley dressed as a WWE wrestler…

  /  autty

Chelsea first-team players were photographed celebrating Christmas in their Cobham training ground ahead of their busy Christmas schedule.

The squad exchanged secret Santa gifts as they combine their preparations for their Boxing Day clash at home to Southampton with some festive celebrations.

N'Golo Kante was given a Pikachu hat, Antonio Rudiger's present was a small toy car while Ruben Loftus-Cheek was given a pair of boxing gloves.

The funniest gift in the Chelsea squad, however, goes to Ross Barkley, was given a WWE belt due to his resemblance to world-renowned fighter John Cena.

Barkley's close physical comparisons with the WrestleMania legend is a long-running joke, with Blues goalkeeper Willy Caballero posting a hilarious image comparing the two last season.

Despite facing three games in six days, Chelsea's hopes of picking up maximum points over the festive season are boosted by the fact they do not have to travel very far over the next week.

After hosting Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day, the Blues make the short trip across London to Arsenal on December 29th, before facing another three-day gap between fixtures when they visit Brighton on New Year's Day.

And Chelsea manager Frank Lampard revealed that his side are determined on the games at hand despite players and staff missing out on quality family time over Christmas.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference for the Southampton game, Lampard said: 'The lads are training Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, staying in a hotel the night before the game.

'As footballers we have a lot of benefits in this life, but it's one of the periods that we have to sacrifice a bit of family time.

'The points are on offer in this busy period, the games come thick and fast and it is very important to us and we'll do everything right to be ready.'

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