Team News: Injury boost for Chelsea as midfield star returns to training

Chelsea receive injury boost as midfielder Denis Zakaria was pictured in training

As per an update on Football.London, Chelsea have been handed a boost ahead of the next game against West Ham United with midfielder Denis Zakaria pictured in first-team training.

Zakaria has been out injured since he came hobbling off against Fulham at Craven Cottage a few weeks ago. It is good to see him back in contention for the coming games.

With Reece James and Ben Chilwell back in the team last week, Wesley Fofana returned to team training in the last couple of days. Add Zakaria to the mix and Chelsea’s injury woes are slowly but surely easing up.

We signed Enzo Fernandez on the deadline day of the January window to bolster the midfield. But, Jorginho has left for Arsenal. So, in terms of the numbers, we are short in that department.

N’Golo Kante is still not back and Mateo Kovacic has been out for the past few games as well. Keeping those things in mind, Zakaria needed to become available for selection sooner rather than later.

After a slow start to life after signing for the Blues on loan from Juventus, the Swiss international was beginning to play well and get regular game time until that injury against Fulham.

The 25-year-old is a dynamic player who is comfortable on the ball, is physically strong and can play the box-to-box role.

We play West Ham on Saturday in an important game for both sides for contrasting reasons. With the Borussia Dortmund first leg in the Champions League last-16 after that, Chelsea need to make sure they go into that after beating the Hammers.

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• Borussia Dortmund welcome back several stars ahead of UEFA Champions League clash vs Chelsea
• Chelsea hire All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka on a short-term basis

We are still a long way away from the top four spots in the league. But, there are 17 games still to be played. The key is to start winning games now.