Before his Premier League match against Aston Villa, Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior provided an update on his injured players, one week before the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against PSG.

The Champions League round of 16 is fast approaching. Opposed to Chelsea, PSG will need to raise their level of play to hope to defend their title. For that, Luis Enrique hopes for the return of Ousmane Dembele and Fabian Ruiz, who have been absent for a few matches. On the Blues' side, Liam Rosenior also has to deal with some absences.

The day after the defeat against Arsenal in the Premier League (2-1), the Blues coach was present at a press conference on Monday, before facing Aston Villa in the league on Wednesday.

And the former Strasbourg coach was questioned about the fitness of his group ahead of this Premier League clash, in comments reported by the official Chelsea website. And he could notably count on the returns of Marc Cucurella, absent during the last three matches due to a hamstring injury, and Cole Palmer, who left injured against the Gunners.

"Cole took a knock [against Arsenal], but he's doing very well. He looks in great shape, and I think you can see how we've managed him over the past few weeks. He played 83 minutes [Sunday], and it was a tactical decision to replace him and Enzo [Fernandez], because they had received a yellow card, and I wanted to bring some freshness with Garna [Garnacho] and Liam [Delap]. So yes, Cole is fully ready to start the match on Wednesday, and Reece [James] is also fit (…) Cucu (Marc Cucurella) looks in very good shape, and I hope we can bring him back, if not on Wednesday, then Saturday [against Wrexham in the FA Cup]. That's great news for us, given the schedule ahead. Estevao is back on the field, which is great, and he's doing very well. Jamie Gittens is also progressing well in his rehabilitation. It was great to see Romeo [Lavia] play his first minutes in a long time [Sunday]. I thought he was very solid [against Arsenal]. I think he's ready to come back into the starting eleven. We managed his rehabilitation differently, and I hope that now that he's back fit, he'll stay that way."

Chelsea will have two more matches to play (Aston Villa and Wrexham) before facing PSG in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 (March 11).

Join The Conversation

Roundtablesports is Free to join! You can post your own thoughts, comment on articles, and start conversations with our Roundtable Writers. 

Download the FREE Roundtable APP, and get even easier access to your favorite teams and news!