Four Chelsea players in contention to return against Aston Villa

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has indicated that Chelsea could welcome back as many as four players for Sunday's Premier League fixture against Aston Villa on Sunday.

The Blues hit the headlines throughout the summer transfer window as they took their spending under Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital to approximately £1bn.

However, such have been Chelsea's injury problems that their substitutes' bench against Bournemouth last weekend featured two goalkeepers and a number of players without first-team experience.

Pochettino has been constantly hit by fitness issues to his players since his arrival, contributing to just five points being accumulated from as many matches in the 2023-24 top flight.

That particular subject was a hot topic for debate at Friday's press conference, with the Argentine immediately being quizzed on the status of a number of squad members.

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Having already been seen in training this week, Marc Cucurella and Noni Madueke were confirmed as likely returnees to the matchday group.

Moises Caicedo will continue to be assessed after sustaining a knee problem on international duty, yet could feature, while Pochettino has revealed that Armando Broja is on the brink of a return from a serious knee injury.

Speaking to reporters, Pochettino said: "We need to assess Moises tomorrow. He was training in an individual way, not with the team. We will see tomorrow if he can be involved on Sunday.

"Marc suffered a fever, is back and has started training. Noni was involved also during the week and trained, I think yes. Maybe - maybe - Armando can be involved Sunday, but we are not sure and will assess him tomorrow.

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"We need to recover players. It is important that players and names start to be become available again."

Pochettino was also asked about reports suggesting that Benoit Badiashile had suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury, but Pochettino insisted that it was only "minor".

He added: "Yes, but it was in a different muscle, different thing, but it is minor, small. He is training with Reece James, [Carney] Chukwuemeka, [Trevoh] Chalobah] and they are very close to start training with the team."

The latter quartet are also likely to miss out on Wednesday's EFL Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea then having a five-day gap before facing Fulham on October 2.