The big news in the build-up to our Christmas Eve Premier League fixture away at Wolverhampton Wanderers is that captain Reece James will definitely not be involved over the busy festive period, having undergone surgery on the hamstring injury he suffered at Everton.

Mauricio Pochettino remains hopeful about having James available to him again soon, but admitted it is too early to tell exactly how long we will be without our skipper.

‘I think he feels well because he has started his recovery, so he is one day closer to being with the group. This is really positive, we are all really positive around him and we are going to help him to go forward in the best way,’ said Pochettino.

‘Of course it is always tough for a player that is having a very complicated, very difficult season. But now is the process to start to recover. We are going to take it in a positive way because the most important thing is to start to solve the problem and help him to be strong, be positive because that is a very important thing. The club has an amazing structure to support Reece to be back in his best form and recover as soon as possible.

‘We don’t know for sure how long it will be, several weeks for sure but I don’t know if it will be months. The most important thing now is to see him here again with us after his injury and then we will assess him day by day and see if he can be as soon as possible part of the team.

‘My wish for the new year is that it will be weeks not months, but we cannot say the period, because always it is going to be about how his body is going to react and heal the damage.’

One player Pochettino is able to call upon is Christopher Nkunku, who recovered from his own injury problems to make his belated Chelsea debut as a substitute in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Newcastle United, and will be targeting his first start for the club next.

‘Everyone wanted to see him fit and involved in the game,’ added our head coach. ‘It was good news because we know very well the quality and the capacity to help the team in a very good way.

‘But we need to be patient. We need to give him time, we need to provide the capacity for him to find his best form.

‘To play from the beginning, I don’t know, I think it’s too early to see him start the game. Maybe in a few weeks or the next few games we are going to consider him for the starting XI, but not at the moment.’

Nkunku could also be joined in making his return from injury by Noni Madueke and Romeo Lavia, as both players have returned to team training this week, meaning they could be in Pochettino’s squad for Sunday’s match at Molineux, although the Argentine urged patience.

‘From the beginning of the season Noni was involved then not involved. He was injured and suffered some problems. He is in a position that has massive competition because there are so many players in that area, and he needs to compete and he needs to increase his level. He was injured and now he is recovering and maybe he will be involved for the next games.

‘Lavia is similar to Nkunku, when he arrived he couldn’t make his debut. After nearly six months maybe he will be involved with the team tomorrow. He is doing well but he still needs time to get his best form. He is desperate to make his debut.’

However, Mauricio also stressed that there is a delicate balancing act to bringing players back into the team after a period out, needing to give them game time to reach full fitness without compromising our chances of securing the win.

‘All the players after a big period out of the competition, they are desperate to be involved. It’s easy to say they want to play, but we are competing and the competition is so serious. After six months, like Nkunku and Lavia, they need to understand they need to train really hard every day, even harder than the players who are fit, because they need to make an impact every time they are on the pitch.

‘It's not pre-season. People need to play to recover, but at the same time people need to understand and the player needs to understand, we need to win. Of course I am disappointed to have a player who should be important for us not helping the team.

'If he doesn’t play it isn’t because we don’t believe in him. It’s because there are too many other players who are fit and training for the last six months who are more ready to make an impact on the pitch. It’s about in this moment, today, who is ready to compete and provide what we expect from the players and add to the team.’