Benoit Badiashile has suffered a minor setback in his bid to return from a hamstring injury that could delay his return against Aston Villa this weekend.
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The French defender, who arrived at Stamford Bridge from Monaco in January, was sidelined in May with Chelsea exercising caution over his return to the side.
Last Sunday’s trip to Bournemouth came too soon for the 22-year-old but it had been hoped he would be available for the visit of Villa on Saturday, having stepped up his training programme in recent weeks.
Football.London report however Badiashile sustained a ‘small setback’ at the end of last week and is training alone at Cobham.
Mauricio Pochettino has been dealing with a major injury crisis at the start of his time at the club and was without 12 first-team players against Bournemouth last weekend.
Christopher Nkunku and Wesley Fofana are long-term absentees with Reece James, Carney Chukwuemeka, Trevoh Chalobah also unavailable.
Armando Broja, who was sidelined with a knee injury last December, is pushing to make his comeback this weekend with Noni Madueke and Marc Cucurella also hoping to be available.
Romeo Lavia is yet to play for the club since his £58million move from Southampton in the summer and is not expected to return before October’s international break after suffering an ankle injury. £115million summer signing Moises Caicedo also missed the goalless draw against Bournemouth after returning from international duty with Ecuador with a knock.
Chelsea have taken just five points from their opening five games this season with their only victory coming over newly promoted Luton Town at home.
Defeats to West Ham United and Nottingham Forest have marked a disappointing start to the campaign with away fans heard booing the Blues off the pitch after drawing a blank at the Vitality Stadium.
‘I think the fans know if you invest the type of money people create in the media, okay, it is true, but this is expectation,’ Pochettino said in response. ‘If you don’t win it is normal that the fans are not happy. But what I can tell the fans is the circumstance, that we cannot change, the reality we cannot change.
‘We have too many players [out], of course we are a team that will be strong if we are all together. Even Manchester City, Arsenal, all the teams, with a normal circumstance with all the squad fit of course can compete for everything.
‘Why is it different for us? Why? It is because of what? We don’t have all the squad available from the beginning of the season.
‘What can we do? For me I have nothing to say. The fans can do whatever they want. We know what we need to do, we are strong in our belief.’
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