Chelsea take on Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon as they look to provide a boost to their hopes of playing Champions League football next season.
The game sees manager Enzo Maresca come up against his former club. The Italian led Leicester to the Championship title last season as they returned to the Premier League at the first attempt.
Chelsea will be looking to build on a 4-0 win over Southampton last time out in the league. Leicester, meanwhile fell to a 2-0 loss against West Ham United.
Ahead of the game Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has confirmed a big fitness boost to his squad with full-back Ricardo Pereira available again after a four-month absence due to a hamstring injury.
The 31-year-old was a key player for Leicester under Maresca, but has been out of action since early November. He has now returned to training, with it confirmed that he will be available for selection against Chelsea.
'This was his first week of full team training, so he will be available for selection,” he said in his pre-match presser. “It is [a big deal]. He had one week of team training, and we want to build him up and see how he goes and take it from there. It’s common sense.'
January signing and fellow full-back Woyo Coulibaly is also available again after missing the game against West Ham with a minor issue.
The Foxes will therefore be without just long-term absentee Abdul Fatawu for the match. The winger will miss the rest of the season after suffering an ACL injury back in November.
Chelsea have a few more injury worries to contend with. Strikers Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu are expected to be out until after the international break.
It’s a similar timeline for winger Noni Madueke . The Blues will also be without Mykhailo Mudryk who continues to serve a suspension.
There is more hope over Romeo Lavia who could potentially make a return to the squad, although Maresca has confirmed that he will not be in the starting lineup. Malo Gusto was taken off against Copenhagen on Thursday, but any worries over the full-back seem to have been eased by the Chelsea boss.
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Chelsea ended the 2023/24 Premier League season on a high, but it is never quiet at Stamford Bridge and the summer looks set to be one full of news, with question marks over Mauricio Pochettino's future at the club and plenty of talk around transfers.
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