Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that James Rodriguez could play some part for Everton against Southampton on Sunday.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Colombia international had suffered an injury in the first minute of last weekend's Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.
A challenge from Virgil van Dijk left a question mark over the playmaker's potential involvement for the Blues' trip to the south coast this weekend.
However, the manager has confirmed that he could still play, depending on how he trains on Saturday.
Ancelotti told his pre-match press conference: "He's not definitely out.
"Fortunately I think his recovery was really good and he trained today, just a partial training session.
"I hope that he will train tomorrow and we will see if he is in condition to play on Sunday. It's really better now and we have confidence that maybe he can play.
"He had a big hematoma and wasn't able to train until today. So I hope tomorrow it will be better.
"Today was quite good, the training, but he had only partial training today.
"The possibility that he plays depends on training tomorrow. If he's comfortable in training then he's going to play, because it's not a muscular problem.
"If the hematoma goes down, he can play."
The Blues will still definitely be without Richarlison, who was sent off against Liverpool, and Seamus Coleman - who was taken off in the first half with an injury.
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However, the boss also confirmed that Jonjoe Kenny will also still be missing from the squad for this weekend's game.
When asked if the right back was ready, Ancelotti answered: "Not yet, Jonjoe Kenny is not ready yet. He has to train more.
"We are without Seamus, without Jonjoe and also Richarlison yes is out."
