Thomas Tuchel confirmed that Reece James and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be fit for Chelsea’s clash with West Ham on Saturday, but N’Golo Kante is out and new signing Denis Zakaria will not be available.
James missed the Blues’ defeat to Southampton last time out through illness, while Loftus-Cheek was a doubt for this weekend with a minor muscle injury, however, both have recovered.
Chelsea are in pretty good shape injury-wise heading into the London derby, although Kante is still struggling with a hamstring problem which will keep him out for some weeks to come.
‘Back in training and available,’ Tuchel said of James and Loftus-Cheek at a press conference on Friday. ‘Only N’Golo is out.’
He will not be able to call on Zakaria, though, despite signing the Swiss midfielder on a season-long loan from Juventus on transfer deadline day.
Tuchel does not expect any issues to arise, but Chelsea have to sort out a work permit for the 25-year-old and hopes to have him available next week, when the Blues go to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and then Fulham in the Premier League.
‘We need to work on the work permit. He will not be in the squad for tomorrow,’ said Tuchel. ‘We hope for Tuesday and then Fulham.’
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang also arrived on deadline day, but will not be available this weekend as he is recovering from a broken jaw.
Another new signing, Wesley Fofana, will hope to be involved against the Hammers after arriving from Leicester in a £70m deal.
Tuchel said of his new centre-back: ‘He is the profile we identified very early as a replacement for Toni [Rudiger] and Andreas [Christensen]. Wesley is young, fast and very strong in set-pieces, defending and attacking.’
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