Chelsea have seemingly been handed a major boost ahead of Saturday's Premier League encounter at West Ham United.
The Blues have endured somewhat of a mixed start to the new campaign, dropping points in the Premier League and only edging past Servette in the Europa Conference League playoff round.
However, either side of the international break, Chelsea were unfortunate only to draw with Crystal Palace before they battled their way to a 1-0 success at Bournemouth on Saturday evening.
As a result, Enzo Maresca's side sit in eighth position in the standings after four games played, three points of Arsenal who sit in second place.
With Chelsea facing West Ham in the early kickoff on Saturday, a two-goal victory at the London Stadium would see them move into that spot prior to the other nine games across the weekend.
According to Sky Sports News, Maresca will face a selection dilemma for the game across the capital.
Fernandez among those to return to training
The report says that as many as four players were all in a position to resume training when the squad return to Cobham on Monday morning.
Enzo Fernandez was among that quartet, the Argentina international and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall having been sidelined at the weekend due to illness.
Romeo Lavia has been missing since August 25 courtesy a thigh injury, with Malo Gusto also suffering a similar issue just before the international break.
Nevertheless, the latter two players were also able to play some part in training, albeit perhaps remaining behind Fernandez and Dewsbury-Hall with regards to coming back into contention for the Hammers encounter.
Is Maresca likely to tinker with his starting lineup?
Chelsea's recent record without Fernandez in the starting lineup is far better than when the World Cup winner plays in the engine room or in a more advanced role.
That said, the expectation will be that Fernandez replaces Renato Veiga alongside Moises Caicedo for a game of this magnitude.
Dewsbury-Hall is only likely to feature among the replacements, whereas Chelsea will likely err on the side of caution with Gusto and Lavia given the amount of games to be played in a short amount of time.
As a result, Axel Disasi or Tosin Adarabioyo should feature at right-back, with Cole Palmer retaining his place in the number-10 position as opposed to being switched to the flank. body check tags ::
