Speaking ahead of the always passionate London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham, which he has experienced from both dugouts, Mauricio Pochettino revealed some more bad news for the Blues on the injury front.

With his squad already hit hard throughout this season, our head coach admitted we will be without two more central defenders when we host Spurs at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League tomorrow, as Thiago Silva and Axel Disasi both need to sit the match out.

'It’s not good news because we cannot recover any players in the last week,' confirmed Pochettino when updating on the latest news from the Cobham treatment room.

'Only we need to add two more players, Thiago and Disasi. They will not be available for tomorrow.'

One player who is available to feature against Tottenham - the club where he started his career in the youth system - is Noni Madueke. Pochettino is pleased with the winger's progress in recent weeks, after he started our last four league games and contributed two goals and an assist during that period.

However, our head coach highlighted an area where he still wants to see further improvement from Madueke in the remainder of the season and the future.

'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.

'He can have the profile and of course I hope that he can take advantage of the possibility to play more until the end of the season.'

With the Blues' current injury situation, there are likely to be further opportunities for younger players too, with several teenagers from our Academy being named among the substitutes in recent weeks, and Pochettino hinted that could continue against Spurs.

'Every single game is challenge for us and now tomorrow we have a big challenge against a great team like Tottenham. It is going to be good, it is going to be a nice game to play.

'It is a great opportunity for some kids to be on the bench and to have the possibility maybe to play. 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.'

Chelsea go into Thursday's Premier League fixture off the back of an improved second-half performance against Aston Villa last time out, when we fought back from 2-0 down and were unfortunate only to come away with a draw.

That performance left Pochettino happy with the progress his team is making, but also aware there is plenty more work to do with his young squad.

'I was so pleased because it’s a process where we need to learn. It’s a process where we need to live the experience and to learn from the experience.

'That is the challenge, it is a massive challenge, to have these potentially talented players competing in the toughest league in the world.

'With ups and downs, but of course they are learning. It is a process and this is a time where they are learning. We need to help and force them to realise the areas they need to improve and the areas they can be better.

'When it is one, two or three young players always it is easier. When you have plenty of young players always you need to provide more time for them to learn.'