With a little over 24 hours to go until we host Tottenham at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Thursday evening, the Chelsea squad was putting the finishing touches on their match preparations in the gym and out on the training pitch at Cobham.

There were also several players continuing their recovery from injury - Christopher Nkunku, Levi Colwill, Reece James, Robert Sanchez, Raheem Sterling and Lesley Ugochukwu are all back in partial training - although Mauricio Pochettino confirmed none of them will be ready in time to face Spurs, while there are two new names on the injury list.

'It’s not good news because we cannot recover any players in the last week,' confirmed Pochettino. 'Only we need to add two more players, Thiago [Silva] and [Axel] Disasi. They will not be available for tomorrow.'

However, those injuries could open the door for others to be given a chance, with several players from our Academy involved in senior training this week.

'It is a great opportunity for some kids to be on the bench and to have the possibility maybe to play,' added Pochettino. 'When this opportunity appears it is about being conscious and saying: "come on, step up".

'And then it is about the kids saying: "we are here and we want to be there, we want to play for the first team of Chelsea". I think it’s a great opportunity tomorrow and for sure it’s going to be a great game.'

Whenever the Blues and Spurs go head to head it is a big occasion, and the anticipation was building at Cobham as the team got ready for the latest chapter in that capital rivalry.

‘It’s a massive derby,’ said Moises Caicedo. ‘I hope I am going to play and it would be amazing to play against them and show our football. Win that game and it would be amazing for us.’

Chelsea are hoping for a repeat of our previous meeting with Tottenham this season, when a Nicolas Jackson hat-trick and Cole Palmer penalty gave us a 4-1 win in north London.

‘It was an amazing night,’ Jackson reminisced. ‘I was still quite new and I didn’t know until I scored the hat-trick how important it was for the club. It was a big, big derby and I was very happy. Every time I sleep it’s in my head, the hat-trick.'

Noni Madueke was preparing to face the team he began his career with, and has been in good form recently, starting our last four league matches, while registering two goals and an assist.

'He is doing well,' said Mauricio. 'He scored against Aston Villa, he is improving a lot without the ball. I think the challenge for him is to improve without the ball, to be more connected on the defensive side.'