Ben Chilwell, Reece James and Raheem Sterling are all available to feature in Chelsea’s squad for their clash against Fulham.
The Blues spent a whopping £300million in the January transfer window, helping to ease the injury crisis that Graham Potter had been facing.
Bu the Chelsea boss has now revealed his squad are actually set to be boosted with players who have been sidelined for Friday’s game against their west London rivals – which is exclusively live on talkSPORT.
Potter is no stranger to listing off a large number of players that are missing from the squad due to injury – but this time he’s been able to instead name three stars that will be available to start on the bench.
“Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Raheem Sterling and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are in the squad, but not for 90 minutes,” he told the media on Thursday.
Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante will however remain sidelined along with Wesley Fofona, Christian Pulisic, Denis Zakaria and Armando Broja.
But Potter did reveal that summer signing Fofana has been partly training with the team again, and is close to being available for selection.
Chilwell hasn’t played a game for Chelsea since November, with his thigh injury causing him to miss the World Cup with England.
Meanwhile, James has played just once since October, with his knee injury also causing him to miss Qatar 2022 and him having to come off on his return in December due to his knee again.
Sterling will return for the first time since the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at the start of January, which saw him withdrawn after just five minutes with a hamstring issue.
Chelsea decide on sacking Graham Potter if Blues miss out on top four after £600m spree
Chelsea will not demand instant results from Graham Potter despite their January expenditure of over £290m taking their season spent to near the £600m mark. The Englishman has been under pressure at Stamford Bridge with the Blues enduring a poor Premier League campaign however he will be given time to put things right even if he fails to secure a top-four finish at the end of the campaign.
With the club significant outlay in the transfer market this month some have suggested that Potter is under even more pressure than he was before. However, The Guardian suggests that the club are prepared to stick with Potter long-term even if he does not oversee a significant improvement between now and the end of the season.
The Guardian reports that Todd Boehly will stick by Potter even if he fails to qualify for the Champions League such is his faith in the current project at Stamford Bridge. The American has been keen to build something in west London following the lead set by Liverpool and Arsenal who have reaped the rewards of keeping faith with their managers.
SOURCE: talksport.com, express.co.uk
