Chelsea will again assess the fitness of Willian and Antonio Rudiger before Frank Lampard names his team for Sunday’s game against Leicester.
Both players have been working their way back to fitness and are expected to at least be on the bench for Lampard’s first home match as Blues boss.
Willian appears to be ready to start, while defender Rudiger is back in training and could also be involved.
Lampard said: “Rudiger is training. Whether he’s match fit is another thing. Willian is probably closer. They are in contention for the weekend.”
Speaking at a news conference on Friday afternoon, Lampard also said Callum Hudson-Odoi is recovering well from an Achilles injury and is closing in on a return to action.
“Probably next month considering the international break, which is maybe falling at a good time for us,” Lampard said.
“It gives us a couple of weeks to really see how he’s getting on with the conditioning training.
“It’s good news for us. It’s slightly gone amiss with the transfer ban and the obsession with young players, but we are missing six players from the squad, including Reece James – big players for the squad. As they are coming back it’s going to make us stronger.”
Lampard also indicated that Michy Batshuayi will be staying at Chelsea but Davide Zappacosta and Tiemoue Bakayoko could leave before the European transfer window closes.
This post was last modified on 18/08/2019