Nkunku, Lavia, Chukwuemeka - Latest Chelsea injury news and return dates for Everton

Chelsea's trip to Everton in recent seasons has proved often disastrous and Mauricio Pochettino will be keen to avoid falling to the same fate as his predecessors. If the Blues do fail to win against Sean Dyche's Toffees, then pressure is only going to mount.

After the 2-1 defeat at Manchester United, which was one of the worst performances of the season,the vultures are once more circling the Argentine. He is hoping that with the return of some key players from injury that fortunes will turn. «To play against Brighton with one less for 60 minutes, I think maybe affects a little bit the energy and the performances of the players,» he explained at Old Trafford.

«Then we need to recover, too many players injured, we need to recover them as soon as possible to be more competitive and to have options and to help the team achieve what we want. That is not an excuse, it's only that.»

The scoreline could easily have been much more hurtful to the boss though and it has seen pressure ramped up once again with the club stranded in mid-table. Here, football.london has the latest from the treatment room and those that Pochettino is hoping to welcome back.

After months of rehabilitation, Nkunku has finally returned to first-team training. He was in contention to feature against Brighton and Manchester United but ended up missing out on the squad on both occasions.

What Pochettino said: «I think it is like we always tell you, it's about assessing day by day. Sometimes we become excited when we see on the pitch and we want to have the player as soon as possible but I think we need to be careful and of course when he is ready he is going to be really strong.»

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