Chelsea have handed fans and incoming new manager Mauricio Pochettino a major injury boost ahead of not only the final three games of this season but also the next campaign.
Frank Lampard has had his hands tied to some extent with selection over the past weeks with several first team stars already ruled out for the remainder or close to the rest of the league season. Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Koulibaly, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic are all doubts to play again.
Armando Broja has been confirmed as out of action until next term following his knee injury picked up in December. It has left Lampard without a key group of players for a challenging run-in with trips to both Manchester sides and a final game at home to Newcastle still to come.
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There is nothing to play for across those fixtures but the additional setbacks have only gone to make things tougher for Lampard and his players. It is also something for Pochettino to pay attention to as he prepares to takeover come the end of the season.
Pochettino will no doubt be keen to get to work with Mason Mount, Reece James and Ben Chilwell in the pre-season tour of America and before for the Blues and has been given confidence of their physical state improving ahead of time. The trio have all been pictured back out on the grass in training at Cobham.
It comes one day after Mount alone was the subject of a Twitter post by the club with the caption: "MM19 back on the grass."
James and Chilwell have now come back into the fold themselves after Lampard ruled them out for another extended spell. "Not fit," he said ahead of the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest.
"No we are hoping that Chilly may be fit possibly for the last game or two of the season but that is a tight call. It's a similar story with Mason Mount, maybe a little bit similar with Reece [James] but I feel that Reece might be slightly behind that. So we are obviously chasing it about now."
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