Chelsea flew to Israel today without Marcel Desailly, William Gallas, Graeme Le Saux, Albert Ferrer, Emmanuel Petit and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

The six first-team squad members exercised their right not to travel for tomorrow night's UEFA Cup second-round first-leg game against Hapoel Tel-Aviv because of their concerns over the security situation in Israel.

Desailly, Gallas, Petit and Gudjohnsen all played in The Blues' 2-0 win over Leicester on Saturday and Le Saux was on the bench.

Several members of Steve Clarke's youth team, who are unbeaten this season, have travelled in the absences of their senior colleagues.

At least one of the youngsters is expected to make his debut in Claudio Ranieri's side in the 17,000-capacity Bloomfield Stadium.