For the second time in seven days, the Blues will face Brighton & Hove Albion at the American Express Stadium, with Enzo Maresca overseeing the team's final training session before kick-off today.

Among those out on the training pitch at Cobham was skipper Reece James, who Maresca confirmed is available for selection on tomorrow's trip to the Amex Stadium, after sitting out our FA Cup defeat there last week.

‘Reece is okay,’ confirmed the Italian. ‘He was rested against Brighton in the FA Cup, this was planned to give him a rest.

‘He’s had a bit more rest in the last few days but he is okay to be involved tomorrow. We are very happy to have Reece with us.’

Maresca also discussed his attacking options for tomorrow. Christopher Nkunku led the line when we went to Brighton last week and is in his thinking to fill the striker role again on Friday, but there are also other solutions being considered in the absence of injured duo Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu.

‘Because of Nico and Marc’s situation, we are working and trying to find different solutions,’ Maresca continued.

‘Christo could be one of the solutions, but it’s not the only solution. It can be Christo, as he played the last game, and also different kind of players. For sure when you don’t have a proper No9 who can be a threat always, you have to change not only the No9, also a little bit the way you want to play.

‘I have said many times I consider Christo a very important player, and I have said since day one Christo is not a No9. Christo is an attacking midfielder, but we use him as a No9 to find a solution.

‘Christo is a completely different player to Nico on and off the ball, so we probably need to adjust something because the skills of the players are different.’