Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has suggested that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is "fit and ready" to face former club Arsenal on Tuesday night.
The Blues make the short trip across London on the back of five successive defeats under Lampard, who is in caretaker charge for the remainder of the season, and with the club in 12th position in the Premier League table.
Lampard is tasked with trying to help Chelsea turn a corner before the end of the campaign with Mauricio Pochettino expected to take over in June.
Chelsea have scored just one goal in Lampard's five matches, the club continuing to lack a cutting edge in the final third due to their issues in the central-forward position.
Lampard took the decision to hand rare game time to Aubameyang for the second half of last week's 2-0 defeat at home to Brentford, the Gabon international adding more of a threat to the side's attack.
Aubameyang completed 45 minutes in a Chelsea fixture for the first time since early January, taking a step towards a recall to the side ahead of the meeting with his ex-employers at the Emirates Stadium.
While Lampard refused to reveal whether the 33-year-old would start versus the title contenders, he acknowledged that he was available for selection.
The Englishman told reporters at a press conference: "We'll see, I've got Auba, I've got Kai [Havertz], I've got David [Datro] Fofana. I won't divulge the team right here. He's fit and ready."
When pushed on whether sentimental value will come into his thought process, Lampard is not rule out including Aubameyang based on him possessing extra motivation to make an impact.
Lampard added: "Not really, well, possibly, because we all think a player going back to their old club gives a certain motivation. I haven't delved into that too much with Auba himself.
"I'll pick that position on my feeling on how they've trained and what the team structure looks like."
Aubameyang enjoyed one of the best periods of his career at Arsenal, contributing 92 goals and 21 assists in 163 appearances in all competitions.
In stark contrast, just three goals and one assist have come from his 20 outings in a Chelsea shirt. body check tags ::
