Graham Potter revealed that several players will miss Chelsea's clash against Aston Villa as the Blues plot an ambitious push for top-four following the international break. The west London outfit will welcome the Villans to Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon and a defeat for the home side will see them fall into the bottom half of the table.
They each head into the tie on 38 points, with only five goals separating one another. The last time Chelsea and Villa met was in a friendly back in December when John McGinn scored the only goal inside ten minutes.
But, in October, Chelsea waltzed away from Villa Park 2-0 victors following two goals from Mason Mount. The midfielder now looks set to make his return to the squad after various minor injuries, which saw him pulled from the England squad.
READ MORE: Chelsea predicted lineup vs Aston Villa as Graham Potter explains N'Golo Kante role
In other injury news, N'Golo Kante is also expected to be named in Potter's squad for the very first time. The Frenchman suffered a hamstring injury back in August against Tottenham.
Speaking to the press ahead of the Villa game, the Chelsea boss explained the significance of welcoming back the duo back. Beginning with Mount, Potter said: "I think it's been tough for him because he's had some niggling injury and speculation off the pitch.
"He's a professional and a top professional and he's a fantastic lad. How he's acted with me, with the team, how he's acted around us has been absolutely top.
"I think that's credit to him because sometimes in your career things are difficult, not quite optimal how you'd like them to be and you have to act well and conduct yourself in a good way and that's exactly what he's done."
Then, on whether Kante will be involved, he replied: "We have to manage that as the next stage for us because he's been out for so long. The minutes and building those minutes in the Premier League.
"He's been training well and he's had some behind closed doors time and he's available in the squad and I'm pretty sure he will be on the pitch at some point tomorrow."
So, with that being said, football.london has taken a look at the full squad of players available to Potter against Villa.
Goalkeepers: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Edouard Mendy, Marcus Bettinelli, Lucas Bergstrom.
Defenders: Reece James, Benoit Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella.
Midfielders: N'Golo Kante, Enzo Fernandez, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Denis Zakaria, Conor Gallagher, Carney Chukwuemeka, Lewis Hall.
Forwards: Kai Havertz, Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana.
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