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I guess strictly speaking Petr Cech is more important to the club than David Luiz, but on my blog people get ordered by the amazingness of their hair rather than any other concerns (and if they haven't before, they will now). Anyway, we've got an injury update for both of you courtesy of Andre Villas-Boas' latest preference, and there's some good news and some bad news.
David Luiz is coming back to full training, today he had a full intensity training. It will be too early for him but he is selected for Brazil and I am going to let him go to add a couple of minutes.
On other fronts there is nothing special. Petr has made a tremendous recovery and is looking good for after the international break, and Essien is long-term. Everybody [else] is up for selection.
-Andre Villas-Boas. Source: ChelseaFC.com.
Bad news first, I suppose - although it's not terrible. David Luiz is still out for Norwich City, having only just returned to full-intensity training this week. On the one hand, it's annoying that such an apparently minor case of knee tendinitis has kept him out for so long, but on the other at least he's fit enough to play for Brazil in the next international break. Crazy though this might sound when talking about a centre back, Chelsea have missed him as a creative force.
And as for the good news, it's difficult not to interpret the Petr Cech commment as saying he's available for Sunderland on September 10th, which would be fantastic news. For Cech to only miss two matches when he could have been gone for up to a month (including for the Manchester United game) is absolutely fantastic. I hope Villas-Boas is right about this one, because getting the two of those back for Sunderland combined with a probable first start for new signing Juan Mata* will be a real shot in the arm for the team.
*Mata is expected to be on the bench against Norwich on Saturday.
One would probably expect Henrique Hilario to continue to fill in for Cech until he's fit - he did a fine job against West Bromwich Albion, despite conceding a goal - but there may well be a change in the centre of defence, because Branislav Ivanovic looks far more fit than Alex at this point. As Villas-Boas says, everyone is available save the three injuries, so it'll be interesting to see how he deploys his starting lineup on Saturday. Chelsea have disappointed at the beginning of each match so far, and the manager is hinting at some adjustments to the squad to try to fix that.