BENOIT Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah are available for Chelsea’s Conference League last-sixteen first leg against Copenhagen on Thursday evening.
Blues boss Enzo Maresca has also confirmed that while Robert Sanchez will start in goal in place of Filip Jorgnsen. Sanchez’s last game was in the 2-1 defeat to Brighton in the FA Cup on February 8.
Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia are both back in training.
Badiashile has been out since December 8 with a hamstring injury, while Chalobah missed the 4-0 win at home to Southampton with a back problem.
“They are both ready,” Maresca said at his pre-match press conference ahead of the game in Denmark. “Trev, fortunately for us, was not something serious, so he is ok. Benoit is back and has been training with us in the last ten days, maybe even more.
“Wes is not in the squad but is back and Romeo started to train with us in the last two days. So slowly, slowly we have all the players back which is important for the final rush of the season.
“We said a few times that, unfortunately, our bad moment started with the amount of injuries. Now, some of them are back and some of them are in the process of coming back. That is a huge boost for me but also for the players.
‘That is because you see players who were there for the first six or seven months of the season – when we were there [near the top of the Premier League table]. So it is important for the final rush of the season.”
Maresca added: “Robert starts [Thursday], yes. In this moment, he has played against Brighton away in the FA Cup, then he didn’t play in the Premier League, but tomorrow he is going to play. I have said many times about Robert, that it’s a matter of giving him different kinds of games and trying to help him.”
