Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has suggested that Dario Essugo has suffered a setback in his bid to return from injury.
The Blues head into Wednesday's Premier League fixture against Leeds United without Moises Caicedo, who is suspended for the next three top-flight fixtures due to suspension.
Therefore, Essugo's appearance in training last week was a timely boost for Maresca when Caicedo cannot feature in a Premier League game until December 20.
With the Portugal Under-21 international having been sidelined since September due to thigh surgery, he was never going to be immediately thrust back into the starting lineup.
Nevertheless, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday morning, Maresca indicated that the 20-year-old's return had been put back.
Maresca speaks on Essugo, Lavia injuries
While declaring that there had been no fresh injury issues with the majority of the squad, the Italian was less optimistic about Essugo and Romeo Lavia, who has been sidelined since before the November international break.
He said: "Romeo is still recovering. Dario, he was okay and started some sessions with us.
"He now needs to slow down a little bit. He will be out again, hopefully nothing important."
Lavia had initially been ruled out until the middle of December at the earliest, but there has been no specific update since the resumption of action on November 22.
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Untimely blow for Chelsea
Wednesday's game with Leeds is the first of eight matches that Chelsea will play throughout December.
The biggest issue for Maresca is how to handle his midfield selection for Premier League contests with the Lilywhites, Bournemouth and Everton between now and December 13.
Andrey Santos and Enzo Fernandez could both start at Elland Road, but the latter - like Reece James - has taken on a hefty short-term workload and using both players for 90 minutes against Leeds and Bournemouth is unrealistic.
With James' fitness to be managed, Josh Acheampong will come into the equation for midfield minutes, unless he starts at right-back and Malo Gusto is moved inside.