Antonio Rüdiger, Thiago Silva, Hakim Ziyech back in Chelsea training, but still no Christian Pulisic

The latest batch of pictures from the training ground has been posted on the Chelsea official website, and they confirm the return of three of the four players who had been missing in action this weekend.

The two referenced in their headline are defenders Antonio Rüdiger and Thiago Silva, while Hakim Ziyech can also be seen. Rüdiger had been dealing with a back problem for the past week, while Ziyech had missed a few sessions with a headache (migraine?). Silva was absent this weekend due to his late return from Brazil — he still has to quarantine from the rest of the world, but can participate in training and games.

The one missing is of course Christian Pulisic, whose “slight ankle injury” is well into its fifth week now. In fact, combined with the time missed due to his positive COVID-19 test in late August, Pulisic has not played for Chelsea in over two months, and has yet to take the pitch with one Romelu Lukaku. Not ideal!

The good news is that the aforementioned trio are back and presumably will be fit to play soon, perhaps as early as Wednesday’s Champions League match-up against Malmö FF, or the weekend’s upcoming Premier League match against Norwich City — though we should be expected to be winning both of those games regardless of personnel.