N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek started for Chelsea in a 4-2 pre-season friendly win against National League side Boreham Wood on Friday evening.
The midfield duo remained in England as they cannot enter the United States for the Blues’ pre-season tour due to their Covid-19 vaccination status.
Kante and Loftus-Cheek will miss matches against Club America, Charlotte FC and Arsenal, but will be eligible to take on Udinese in Italy on July 29.
They will continue training with fellow first-team members left out of the squad and Under-23 players to ramp up their conditioning.
The likes of Dujon Sterling, Matt Miazga and Baba Rahman started for Chelsea at Meadow Park.
Tyrone Marsh opened the scoring from the spot for Boreham Wood before Leo Castledine equalised on the verge of half-time.
A deflected strike from Jez Davies saw Chelsea take the lead for the first time, before the youngster grabbed his brace with 73 minutes on the clock.
Mason Burstow grabbed the Blues’ fourth of the evening, but Jacob Mendy managed to score Boreham Wood’s second with stoppage time looming.
