The seven Chelsea players Mauricio Pochettino will be without for Premier League clash vs West Ham

Mauricio Pochettino will be without seven players for Chelsea’s Premier League clash against West Ham, the club have confirmed.

The 51-year-old will have several selection decisions to make for the London derby this weekend as they make the short trip across the capital for their first away trip of the 2023/24 campaign.

Chelsea will welcome new signings Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia into the side after they were registered in time to feature, if selected on Sunday afternoon.

However, Reece James, who was recently confirmed as the club’s new captain, suffered a setback in training this week after injuring his hamstring and will now be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks.

An updated list from the club read:

• Marcus Bettinelli – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Benoit Badiashile – at the end stages of his rehabilitation programme.
• Trevoh Chalobah – continuing to undergo his rehabilitation programme.
• Wesley Fofana – continuing with the early rehabilitation stages following surgery.
• Reece James – starting rehabilitation having undergone assessments on an injury sustained in training this week.
• Christopher Nkunku – beginning the early stages of rehabilitation following surgery.
• Armando Broja – at the end stages of his rehabilitation programme.

Pochettino expressed his sadness at James’ injury setback, however offered a boost with Noni Madueke set to be handed minutes after recovering from a hamstring problem.

“I think it’s a sad moment because he’s our captain,” Pochettino said of James. “He was so excited to be a captain, full of energy. I think we are going to assess him day-by-day as well as possible. For sure, he is going to become stronger than he was, we are going to help him to become stronger than before.”

The Chelsea boss added: “Yes, it’s a hamstring. It’s not a few days, it’s maybe a few weeks. The good thing is that it’s not a good issue. The most important thing now is to worry about anticipating problems. When he plays again, we hope he’s stronger than he was before. We will assess him day-by-day and make a plan every day.”

On Madueke, Pochettino continued: “He is going to be involved against West Ham and maybe with the possibility to play.”