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Football London
Football London
Sport
Alan Smith

Hakim Ziyech set to play for Morocco before making Chelsea debut because of knee injury

Hakim Ziyech may not have made his competitive Chelsea debut because of a knee injury but the winger has joined up with his Morocco team-mates in Rabat ahead of friendlies against Senegal on Friday and DR Congo next Tuesday.

The 27-year-old has recovered from the injury, picked up in his new club's only pre-season friendly away to Brighton and Hove Albion, and had been training at Cobham for the past couple of weeks.

But head coach Frank Lampard decided he was not worth risking for last Saturday's 4-0 win at home to Crystal Palace.

It is unclear if he will feature for Morocco in the friendlies but that he has travelled to link-up with his team-mates suggests some involvement.

"Ziyech is getting closer but not close enough to be on the bench," Lampard said last Friday, although football.london was told that in a higher-stakes fixture the attacking midfielder could have been risked.

Tammy Abraham and Ben Chilwell will learn later today if or when they will link-up with their England team-mates after a breach of coronavirus regulations at the weekend. Reece James has since been handed a first senior call-up after a good start to the campaign at right back.

England play Wales on Thursday evening before Nations League fixtures against Belgium and Denmark, for whom Andreas Christensen will be involved.

Among the other Chelsea players on international duty, Antonio Rudiger is expected to meet up with his Germany team-mates today after a loan move failed to materialise on transfer deadline day. The 27-year-old centre back will try to fight for his place at Stamford Bridge before reassessing his role in January.

Jogi Low's squad also features Kai Havertz and Timo Werner. They face Turkey in a friendly tomorrow night before Nations League ties against Ukraine on Saturday and Switzerland next Tuesday.

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