Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, with four players likely to return from injury to bolster our weakened ranks.
Ourhead coach has been open about the difficult circumstances he and the team have found themselves in recently.
His team has been hit by injuries and he was counting on our academy players to name a full substitutes bench in our last match, the 0-0 draw at Bournemouth last Sunday.
However, with Aston Villa their next opponent when they visit west London on Sunday afternoon, Mauricio Pochettino was able to report some good news on the injury front, with Moises Caicedo, Armando Broja, Noni Madueke and Marc Cucurella all potentially available for selection again.
VideoPochettinopress conference
Every word from Mauricio’s press conference as he faces the media ahead of Sunday’s Premier League match against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge…
“We have to get the players back.
It is important that many names and players are available to be included in the match,” admitted Pochettino.
“We have to evaluate Moi tomorrow. Today he trained individually, not with the team.
Tomorrow we have to evaluate and on Sunday we will see if it can be there.
Caicedocould return on Sunday after missing the trip to Bournemouth’Marc had a fever, but he’s back since we started training again this week.
Noni was also busy training this week, so I think he will be ready.
Maybe we need another day for Broja.
I think he might be there on Sunday, but we don’t know for sure.
We have to evaluate it tomorrow.’
ForBroja it will be a particularly important moment as he has been sidelined since he suffered a serious injury during our training camp in Abu Dhabi last December.
However, as Chelsea have struggled to convert possession into goals in recent weeks, Pochettino believes it is important not to put too much pressure on the young striker to resolve the issue so soon upon his return.
“It’s the same situation that maybe we can talk about with many different players.
Broja arrives and maybe he will compete this weekend, but it is after nine months that he has not competed.
We cannot put the responsibility on him.’
Theresponsibility must always lie with the team, with the collective effort.
It’s not just the attackers who have to score, all players involved in the team have to try to score.
We can’t expect Broja to arrive and if he gets the chance to play he will score with every touch.
Broja’s long absence may have come to an end“He also needs time to get comfortable with the competition and start performing the way we expect him to perform.
”There was also further news from the manager on the injury front, confirming that Benoit Badiashile has suffered a minor setback in his attempt to return to the squad, while the others continue to work towards a return to full training.
“It was a different muscle for Benoit, something different, but it was small, small,” Pochettino added.
“He trains with Reece James, Carney Chukwuemeka and Trevoh Chalobah.
They are also very close to being involved in training with the team.”
Badiashilewill not be available against VillaSo there’s a lot of good news about potential returns, both this weekend and in the near future. Our manager explained that this is the culmination of an important week’s work at Cobham, with the silver lining of our absence from Europe this season giving his players and staff more time on the training pitch to recover between Premier League matches.
“I think for us it’s about players recovering from injuries and players who were out during the international break. In these circumstances it’s good for us to have time to work.
It’s been a very positive week, we’ve worked very hard with the players we have and then we had time to get players back in.
If you’re involved in the European competition, it’s difficult.
“It’s obviously difficult for the fans because normally Chelsea is a club that competes in European competitions, but at the moment that’s not the case.
I think we have to take advantage of the situation.”
