Chelsea are hopeful Moises Caicedo and Noni Madueke will be back fit for their home clash against Aston Villa this weekend after the pair missed the goalless draw with Bournemouth

Noni Madueke and Moises Caicedo are the newest Blues stars to appear on the sidelines.
The two missed the Cherries’ match after returning from international service injured.
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To play Aston Villa on Sunday, Chelsea hopes to get Moises Caicedo and Noni Madueke back. They also expect Armando Broja to make a significant improvement in his level of fitness by playing for Chelsea’s under-21 team the following week.

After returning from international service with knee and muscular injuries, respectively, midfielder Caicedo and winger Madueke missed Chelsea’s goalless draw against Bournemouth on Sunday, becoming the newest Blues stars to enter the injured list.

However, Mauricio Pochettino, the head coach, was without 12 players at Bournemouth, so their absences were preemptive, and their issues were not deemed significant enough to keep them out for more than one game.

The Vitality Stadium stalemate once again highlighted Chelsea’s troubles in front of goal but Pochettino may soon have a second No.9 option in Broja.

He has not played for Chelsea competitively since before the World Cup after rupturing his ACL in a mid-season friendly against Aston Villa.

But he has been back in full training and is poised to ramp up his comeback bid with an appearance for Chelsea’s second string.

Chelsea have games against Luton, Manchester City and Northampton Town over the next seven days and Broja is expected to feature in at least one of the games.

Before his injury last season, Broja established himself as a regular member of Chelsea’s first team after successful loan stints at Vitesse Arnhem and Southampton.

When discussing Chelsea’s efforts to bolster their team earlier this season, Pochettino casually mentioned the Albanian last month, giving the unmistakable signal that he expects to rely on Broja when he returns.

Pochettino said: ‘We are looking at all of the options that we can manage on the market. But I think at the same time, we are keeping one or two eyes on Armando Broja. We cannot forget him. We cannot stop him. We really believe in him – we know how important he can be for Chelsea.

‘Sometimes we cannot go for some player that maybe we already have. We need to be patient and adapt our squad and get positive results while waiting for Armando to be fully fit.’

Chelsea are also optimistic that defender Benoit Badiashile will be ready to make his return to action in around a fortnight. The centre-back has not played since May after suffering a hamstring injury.