Chelsea players are gearing up for a return to pre-season training but there is mixed news on the injury front with just over three weeks to go before the 2020/21 Premier League season gets underway.
Captain Cesar Azpilicueta has said that he expects to be fit for the resumption of training after coming off in the first half of the FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal with a hamstring strain but United States attacker Christian Pulisic may miss the opening week of the campaign as he continues to recover from a more serious hamstring injury also sustained at Wembley.
Afterwards Frank Lampard said that Azpilicueta would be sidelined for three weeks and Pulisic twice that length. Both are tracking along that timeline.
“I am hoping to be fit for the start of pre-season," Azpilicueta told the club's in-house media earlier this week. "I’ve been lucky enough not to have had many injuries in my career but unfortunately it happened against Arsenal.
“I’m working with the physio now with a programme from the club, while also spending a bit of time with my family, but mostly training and working on the pitch to recover. If everything goes well, I will be ready to start pre-season as normal.”
Billy Gilmour is also going to be unavailable for the opening weeks as he continues to recover from knee surgery but Lampard has no other injury concerns ahead of the resumption.
The players are set to undergo coronavirus testing in the next couple of days before they resume training next week. They had been given individual training programmes to maintain fitness during their two week break.
The fixtures for the new season will be released at 9am this morning.
