Raheem Sterling, Reece James, Wesley Fofana back in Chelsea training

Chelsea (sans coach Anthony Barry, who looks Bayern-bound) were back at Cobham today to begin preparations for the match against Aston Villa on Saturday, and (re-)joining the group were the injured trio of Raheem Sterling, Reece James, and Wesley Fofana.

The former was confirmed by the official website, even, while the presence of the latter two could be gleaned from Wes’s Instagram story.

Sterling last played (and scored) in the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund three weeks ago but thankfully his hamstring “tightness” has indeed proven relatively minor. Same goes for Wesley Fofana, who seemed to pick up a twinge late-on in our last game, the 2-2 draw against Everton ten days ago, and was forced to withdraw from his nascent call-up to the France national team as a result.

Reece did get to go with England and even feature for a few minutes in their win over Italy in Naples, but then withdrew with an unspecified and “ongoing” concern. Hopefully his concerns have been allayed or proven baseless.

Not that we’re lacking for numbers in a massively bloated squad, but Fofana has been one of our best players during this four-match unbeaten run and we need Reecey at his best if we want to win anything. And it would certainly not hurt if Sterling were to find some proper form as well.

Oh, and apparently Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was back as well, from his Barcelona trip back injury. How’s your life, Auba?