Chelsea are back in Premier League action tomorrow when we host neighbours Fulham at Stamford Bridge and Mauricio Pochettino could see his numbers boosted for that game, with at least two of our injured players looking likely to return in the form of Ben Chilwell and Benoit Badiashile.

Our head coach also confirmed that Carney Chukwuemeka and Trevoh Chalobah are not too far behind them, but there was bad news on Christopher Nkunku, who remains sidelined with an issue after returning from long-term injury last month.

'It is good news about Chilwell and Benoit, and we need to assess if Carney will be available or not,' said Pochettino. 'But Chilly and Benoit, yes, for sure they will be involved in the squad for tomorrow.

'The other good news is that Trevoh has rejoined the team and started to work with the group. Now we need to assess him day by day and see when he can help us. He is doing well and it’s a good sign that Trevoh is training with the team.

‘We are a little bit worried about the situation of Nkunku because it’s 10 days that he cannot train and we are assessing him, but it’s good news on the other side that players like Chalobah, Chilwell, Badiashile and Chukwuemeka are so close to being involved again and to help the team to perform.’

Pochettino elaborated on the problem for Nkunku, who was originally expected to only be absent for a few days with a minor hip injury.

'We thought it was a small issue but now it looks more complicated,' he added. 'Now it is 10 days without him training. After six months waiting for him and now, after being so close to him feeling comfortable and after starting the game against Palace, of course we are disappointed by that. We are a little bit worried because we want him to be back involved again as soon as possible.’

There was one further piece of good news from the treatment room, though, provided by the results of an assessment on Robert Sanchez's recovery from a knee injury earlier this week.

‘We are so happy because the specialist said his evolution is really good and today he was running on the pitch. In the next few days, he will do more running to try to see how his knee reacts, but it’s in a very good positive evolution.’

Turning his attention to tomorrow's match itself, Pochettino believes it is a good opportunity to put the disappointment and external criticism behind us following the 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough in the first leg of our Carabao Cup semi-final.

'I saw the players today really good and in very good spirits. Of course we are disappointed about the last game but it is only the first 90 minutes and we still have the second leg. At the same time, too many things happened around the game, because we are Chelsea and we cannot afford to lose this type of game.

'If you play that game 100 times maybe we lose once, but that is football. We did many good things but at the end, normally, we were criticised. But sometimes we can learn from criticism and when it is tough. We need to feel the pressure because we need to grow and it’s not only with good things that you improve.

'We know that when we lose a game against a Championship team we need to accept the criticism. Now we have a chance tomorrow to put all these bad feelings out by performing in the right way.'

He knows it won't be an easy task against a Fulham side in good form, though, and is expecting a tougher challenge than our 2-0 victory over them at Craven Cottage in our last meeting in October.

'We are going to face a very good team. Fulham are doing really well, they have very good players and it is going to be tough tomorrow.

'It is a different game, they arrive in a very good moment. We didn’t perform badly against Middlesbrough and we came to that game from a few victories. We need to keep our momentum and belief.

'The team is preparing well, is confident for tomorrow and I am so sure that we are going to do a very good job.'