ALVARO MORATA was spotted heading into Chelsea’s training ground as he closes on a return from injury.
And while the Spanish striker was on the treatment table, Danny Drinkwater was snapped stepping up his recovery at Cobham.
Blues face beleaguered Crystal Palace this weekend with Antonio Conte poised to hand starts to youngsters Ethan Ampadu and Kyle Scott.
N’Golo Kante and fellow ex-Leicester ace Drinkwater could be missing from Blues‘ engine room for the next three weeks.
Although Drinkwater, who joined for £35million, looked to be in good shape as he put in the work to recover from a calf problem that has delayed his Blues bow.
The title-winning midfielder appeared to be training alone as he went through running exercises at Blues’ training HQ.
Conte is hopeful that Morata will shake off a hamstring problem be fit enough to face Roma in the Champions League on Wednesday.
BET £10 GET A FREE £30 BET WITH SUN BETS
The Blues boss said: “Morata, I hope to have him back very soon, I hope for the next game against Roma.
“Drinkwater is progressing well but is not ready yet, we must have patience with him and his calf problem.
“And the last one is Kante – we are going to do a scan next week to check his his situation to see if he is improving.
MORE CHELSEA NEWS
“But for sure his hamstring is a problem, this is a big loss for us because you know very well the importance of Kante in our team.
“We don’t have another player with the same characteristics.
“We are not lucky in this period. In midfield we have only (Tiemoue) Bakayoko and (Cesc) Fabregas available.
“We have to approach seven games in this month and we need to find a solution – adapt some defenders or give some younger players an opportunity like Scott or Ampadu.”
Charly Musonda was also snapped driving into Cobham – with a verbal bashing most likely ringing in his ears after his rant about a lack of first-team chances.
Conte said: “I spoke with him and I think Charly understood his mistake.”
Leave a comment