CHELSEA will have more than a keen eye on how Vitesse fare in their two Europa League matches against Saints.

That is because the two clubs have a very close relationship borne out of the friendship between Blues owner Roman Abramovich and Vitesse owner Alexander Chigrinsky.

Vitesse last summer agreed a three-year sponsorship deal with Truphone, a company part-owned by Abramovich.

Abramovich paid £70million for a 23.3 per cent share in the international mobile phone network in 2013 – his biggest investment in a British-based company since he bought Chelsea in 2003.

Since 2010, a remarkable total of 18 players have been loaned to Vitesse from the Blues, including midfield enforcer Nemanja Matic and current Bournemouth loanee Christian Atsu.

There were seven on loan in 2013/14 – Atsu, Gaël Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt, Cristián Cuevas, Lucas Piazón, Sam Hutchinson and Bertrand Traoré.

There were only three last term – Brazilian midfielder Wallace Oliveira dos Santos, Josh McEachran (who joined Brentford last month for £750,000) and Traore again.

There are currently four Chelsea players on loan at Vitesse – winger Izzy Brown and midfielders Lewis Baker, Danilo Pantic and Nathan.

At 18, Brown will be looking to gain first team experience at the Dutch side.

England Under 20s captain Baker had spells on loan at MK Dons and Sheffield Wednesday last term, but is spending the season in Holland.

Both Pantic and Nathan joined Chelsea this summer, from FK Partizan and Athletico Paranaense respectively, and have been immediately loaned out to Vitesse.

Chelsea players have topped the Vitesse league goal charts for the last two seasons.

Prior to Traore’s 13-goal haul last term, Lucas Piazon was top scorer with 11 goals in 2013/14.