Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has ruled out new signing Pierre -Emerick Aubameyang out of Saturday’s London derby against West Ham United.
Aubameyang returned to the Premier League after spending one season with Barcelona.
The Gabonese however will not feature in Saturday game after he was attacked and injured at his home in Spain before his move back to London.
Tuchel in his pre-match conference on Friday revealed players that the former Arsenal captain could be available for selection next week.
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He said; ‘At the moment, Auba cannot train. We first have to make sure that he gets a mask to protect his jaw and then he can start trying with the mask from next week.
‘Our latest news and understanding [on Zakaria] is that we need to have the work permit so he will not be in squad for Saturday. That is too close but maybe for Tuesday and then Fulham.’
However, Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and new signing Wesley Fofana are available for selection for this weekend’s clash with West Ham.
Thomas Tuchel’s side host the Hammers in another Saturday 3pm (UK) kick-off at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues bidding to bounce back from our midweek defeat at Southampton.
Conor Gallagher is back after serving a one-game suspension at St Mary’s, while James has recovered from illness and Chalobah is back from injury.
N’Golo Kante remains sidelined but Mateo Kovacic could be in line for a start and Ruben Loftus-Cheek has recovered from a tight hamstring which forced him off against the Saints at half-time.
“They are back in training and both available,’ he said of James and Kovacic. ‘N’Golo is out but everybody else has been training.’
Following the transfer deadline passing with the arrival of Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria on loan from Juventus, Tuchel is happy with the squad size but revealed that the new duo would not be involved against West Ham.
“We have a group of 19 players, then with Auba and Denis it will be 21 players plus goalkeepers,’ he added.”