Town complete their short German training camp with a friendly against Bundesliga Hoffenheim at the Kufstein Arena just over the border in Austria this afternoon (KO 1.30pm CET, 12.30pm BST).

The Blues will field a senior side against Die Kraichgauer, having been forced to switch to the U21s for yesterday’s game against Borussia Mönchengladbach in Heimstetten, which ended in a 3-1 defeat, due to a lack of personnel, much to the annoyance of the German side.

Town have more than a few players sidelined going into today’s match. Harry Clarke and Ali Al-Hamadi are still in rehab from the surgery they underwent earlier in the summer, while Nathan Broadhead (hamstring) and Cameron Humphreys (thigh) both picked up knocks in behind-closed-doors games early in pre-season.

Wes Burns is also unlikely to be involved having rolled his ankle during last week’s friendly against Fortuna Düsseldorf. It’s believed one or two other players may also have picked up niggles.

Better news is that Omari Hutchinson posted that he was back in training after a minor problem, while Axel Tuanzebe also made the trip to Germany having been previously absent for personal reasons.

Left-back Conor Townsend, who completed his move on Thursday, is likely to make his first appearance in a Blues shirt.

Hoffenheim, who have been training in Kitzbühel, Austria, will be Town’s stiffest opponents of pre-season so far having finished seventh in the Bundesliga, qualifying for the Europa League.

So far, Hoffenheim have played three friendlies. A 7-1 win away against fourth-tier Astoria Walldorf, a 3-1 victory over 2. Bundesliga SV Elversberg and a disappointing 2-2 draw at Norwich City last Tuesday having been 2-0 in front. They also lost Czech Republic international left-back David Jurásek to a serious arm injury against the Canaries.

They open their campaign proper when they face Würzburger Kickers in the DFB Pokal, the German cup, next Saturday.

Among those the Blues will be facing this afternoon is former Leicester striker Andrej Kramarić, while another frontman, €30 million-rated German international Maximilian Beier, was reported to be a target of Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen earlier this summer. More detail on their squad can be found in a TWTD Blog here.

This afternoon’s match is Town’s penultimate friendly of pre-season with the Blues hosting French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice next Saturday before welcoming Liverpool for their first Premier League match in 22 years the following weekend.

Photo: Matchday Images

algarvefan added 11:44 - Aug 3 Just seen the team, no Hirst, injured????
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