Chelsea confirm nine injuries for Aston Villa clash as Mauricio Pochettino offers huge Moises Caicedo update

Mauricio Pochettino could without up to nine Chelsea players for their Premier League clash against Aston Villa, the club have confirmed.

Chelsea host Unai Emery’s side at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon and will be hoping to claim their second win of the season after a goalless draw against AFC Bournemouth last time out.

Aston Villa head into this weekend’s clash on the back of a defeat in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night away to Legia Warsaw.

With the Blues having a full week to prepare, it has allowed some players to recover from injuries and illness. However, Pochettino will still be without nine of his first-team squad after an injury update was provided on the official Chelsea website.

• Benoit Badiashile – part of full team training for reconditioning phase.
• Armando Broja – part of full team training for reconditioning phase.
• Marcus Bettinelli – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Trevoh Chalobah – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Carney Chukwuemeka – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Wesley Fofana – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Reece James – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Christopher Nkunku – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Romeo Lavia – started rehabilitation programme.

Pochettino confirmed Armando Broja is back in training with the group after recovering from an ACL suffered in December 2022 against Aston Villa during a mid-season friendly. The forward is likely to miss the game with the Blues not wanting to rush the Albanian’s return.

“Maybe Armando Broja can be involved, maybe Sunday,” revealed Pochettino on Friday.

“Not sure, we need to assess him tomorrow (Saturday). We need to recover players and it is important many players start to be available to be involved again.”

Benoit Badiashile suffered a setback in training last week. Pochettino explained: “Yeah but it was in a different muscle but it was minor, it was small. He was training with Reece James. I think Reece and Chukwuemeka and also Chalobah are very close to start training with the team.”

Meanwhile, Moises Caicedo returned to training on Friday after returning from international duty with a minor knee injury. He will be assessed before a decision is made on his involvement. Noni Madueke and Marc Cucurella could both be back and available for selection.

“Moi we need to assess tomorrow (Saturday), he was training in an individual way, not with the team until today,” continued Pochettino. “We need to assess tomorrow and see for Sunday.

“Marc suffered a fever and is back when we restarted training. Noni was involved also during the week in training. Maybe we need one day more.”