FOOTBALL LONDON
Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that two Chelsea stars will return from injury for this weekend’s Premier League clash against Fulham. The Blues have been continually plagued by muscular worries and fitness concerns this season, however some of those look set to alleviate for Pochettino for this Saturday lunchtime’s London derby.
Christopher Nkunku made his long-awaited debut for Chelsea in December but he has since missed a number of weeks with a hip injury. His absence is certainly made worse by Nicolas Jackson being unavailable for the month of January due to AFCON participation with Senegal.
The initial hope had been that Nkunku would be back from this minor issue quickly, however Pochettino’s update on Friday certainly suggests otherwise. “I do worry about the situation of Nkunku,” he admitted. “I think it’s now [been] 10 days he cannot train. We are assessing him. We don’t know what’s going to happen.
“I remember my press conference after this happened. It was a small issue and it complicated and it’s been between eight and 10 days [since he trained]. We were waiting for him for six months and he was so close again to feeling comfortable. He started the game against Palace and of course, disappointed with that. We want him as quick as possible to be involved again.”
Lesley Ugochukwu and Romeo Lavia, who also both arrived in the summer, remain out with the latter, like Nkunku, picking up a fresh issue shortly after his maiden appearance at Stamford Bridge. Injuries in defence have particularly been the main issue with Reece James and Wesley Fofana as the long-term absentees due to serious hamstring and knee injuries, respectively.
Although, Pochettino was on hand to offer a positive update on a previously injured trio from his backline. “Yes, good news about [Ben] Chilwell and Ben [Badiashile],” Pochettino said when asked about Chilwell and Badiashile seemingly in reference to the Chelsea injury report that confirmed they had returned to full team training.
