Chelsea prepared for Tuesday night’s Champions League return fixture against AC Milan without three players.
The Blues completed a final session at their Cobham training base on Monday before flying to northern Italy, where they will take on Stefano Pioli’s Serie A winners for the second time in six days.
Chelsea brushed aside injury-hit Milan 3-0 at Stamford Bridge last Wednesday thanks to goals from Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and man of the match Reece James, with England defender Fikayo Tomori enduring an unhappy return to west London.
And Graham Potter’s side will be full of confidence for their second meeting after also dispatching Diego Costa’s Wolves 3-0 in the Premier League on Saturday as they look to take control of Group E.
Chelsea already knew they would be missing Fofana in Milan, with their headline summer signing having sustained a knee injury after colliding with Rafael Leao shortly after scoring in last week’s match.
The French centre-back remains sidelined, though he was later diagnosed with a strain that is not as bad as first feared and there is real optimism that he will be back in action before the season halts for the inaugural winter World Cup in Qatar next month.
Chelsea also look set to be without N’Golo Kante again at the San Siro, with the combative midfielder also missing training on Monday.
Fofana’s compatriot - who is out of contract at the end of the season - has not played since mid-August due to a hamstring issue and Potter confirmed on Friday that he was doing more integration with the first team but still not ready to return.
A potentially new face in the Chelsea treatment room is Hakim Ziyech, who also missed training before the trip to Milan. The Moroccan winger made just three appearances under Thomas Tuchel this term after being heavily linked with a transfer over the summer but has featured under Potter with substitute cameos against both Red Bull Salzburg and Wolves.
Ziyech was an unused sub against Milan last week and may miss out altogether this time, with Potter set to provide a full team news update when he addresses the media in his pre-match press conference from 6:30pm BST on Monday evening.
