Chelsea head coach Graham Potter has revealed that three players will return to the squad for Friday's West London derby against Fulham.
Since his arrival in September, Potter has been plagued with injury issues, and the enforced break due to the World Cup did little to ease the situation.
Upon the resumption, Reece James sustained another issue with his knee, and Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic suffered hamstring and knee injuries versus Manchester City at the turn of the year.
Before those occurrences, Ben Chilwell suffered a significant hamstring injury in November, and Wesley Fofana sustained a recurrence of a knee problem in December.
However, Potter has revealed that Chilwell, James and Sterling are all in a position with their recoveries where they can feature in the group for the meeting with the Cottagers.
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On a negative note, however, Potter indicated that Fofana was still a number of weeks away from coming back into contention for selection.
Speaking to reporters, Potter said: "Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Raheem and Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] are back in the squad. Not 90 minutes, but back in the squad.
"Wesley has been training partly with the team, he will be stepping that up next week."
Potter went further by ruling out Denis Zakaria, Pulisic, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante and long-term absentee Armando Broja for the showdown in the capital.
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Earlier in the press conference, Potter was asked about the availability of Enzo Fernandez, who completed a move from Benfica for a British transfer record earlier this week.
The Englishman said: "We'll see. We've got to go through the paperwork and make sure that he gets the (international) clearance.
"I've spoken to him. My Spanish isn't great and his English is not great, so we needed a translator, but we will get there."
With seven fresh faces added to his squad and just one departure, Potter also admitted that some "awkward conversations" would need to be had with players in his squad, particularly with regards to Champions League selection.
Darren Plant
