Reece James, Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang have all been left out of Chelsea’s squad for today’s Premier League game with Southampton.
James, Silva and Ziyech are being rested, while Aubameyang has fallen out of favour.
Ben Chilwell has also escaped injury after pulling up with an ankle problem in the 1-0 away defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Ahead of a match against the Premier League’s bottom side, manager Graham Potter confirmed “positive [news]” on the pair.
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He told reporters on Friday: “We’re going to train later on this afternoon so providing they come through that okay there’s every chance they make the squad.”
N’Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic, Armando Broja and Edouard Mendy remain unavailable for the match.
With such options open to him, Potter has a large number of selection dilemmas. Kalidou Koulibaly, for example, was excellent away at Borussia Dortmund but Benoit Badiashile has performed well since arriving in January.
Chelsea will likely continue with their 4-2-3-1 shape in the search of fluency, adjusting only slightly to face the managerless side.
Marc Cucurella is likely to come back in for Chilwell to rotate that position despite his positive diagnosis.
Starting Chelsea XI: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Koulibaly, Badiashile, Chilwell; Enzo, Kovacic; Madueke, Joao Felix, Mount; D Fofana
