Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel will be relishing the prospect of potentially being able to call upon the services of N'Golo Kante against Everton on Thursday night, with the Frenchman now back in training having been sidelined through injury.
While Kante is understood to be working his way back to full fitness, it remains to be seen how much longer the club will be without Mateo Kovacic who continues to isolate having tested positive for COVID-19.
The absence of both Kovacic and Kante has clearly impacted Chelsea's recent performances, with Tuchel's men limping to victory against Leeds United at the weekend having previously drawn with Zenit Saint Petersburg and been beaten by London rivals West Ham.
However, with the pair's return to first-team duties potentially on the horizon, hopefully, Tuchel's men can get their campaign back on track as the fixtures come thick and fast throughout the Christmas period.
Carefree Chelsea editor Scott Clayton (SC) spoke to trends writer Jake Stokes (JS) on a recent Carefree Chelsea show about the Kovacic's return, with Jake firmly of the belief that the Croatian midfielder can help Romelu Lukaku return to goalscoring form.
JS: “I think having Kovacic back will be crucial. Obviously, Trevoh [Chalobah] coming back will be nice too. Trevoh is Trevoh - he’s doing really well this season and it's nice to see.
“Kovacic is someone I’m looking forward to coming back. I think he's another player who is sometimes underappreciated for what he is. He’s overlooked a little bit.
I’m interested to see how he does when he comes back. He had a great start to the season and so it was disappointing to see him miss so many games when he was playing so well.
“Thinking of what he can do when he comes back, he could come back and even get Lukaku firing again. So you just never know.”
Do you think Kovacic is the man to help Lukaku start scoring again? Follow our Carefree Chelsea team members Scott, Jake and Renuka on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
