Forgotten man and Nkunku train, James hope - 5 things spotted in Chelsea training for Tottenham

It's a big few days coming up for Mauricio Pochettino and his Chelsea team as they prepare for a showdown against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. Victorious at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in early November following a 4-1 win in N17, the Blues will be looking to make it a double over Ange Postecoglou's side when they go head-to-head in Thursday's 7.30pm kick-off.

Gaining an impressive point at Aston Villa on Saturday evening, Chelsea go into the game with the chance to close to within two points of Newcastle United in seventh providing that they claim a victory. If indeed they do that, they will leapfrog West Ham and move into eight in the Premier League table.

Ahead of Thursday's crunch London derby, Chelsea have been putting in the work at the club's Cobham training. Here are five things we spotted in the team's latest training session.

Reece James will be hoping to feature for Chelsea before the season is out after such a frustrating campaign through injury. The 24-year-old has only made nine appearances to date in 2023/24, with his last coming in December's 2-0 defeat at Everton as he limped off after 27 minutes with a hamstring injury.

Having undergone surgery to try and correct the problem, James has now returned to the training pitch but Pochettino mentioned ahead of the Aston Villa game that he is not available yet and he has been doing some partial training with the squad.

James was all smiles in Monday's training session as he could be seen laughing and joking with Pochettino and assistant coach Jesus Perez. Other photos showed James on the ball in what appeared to be a possession-based game as he works his way back to full fitness.

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Mauricio