Antonio Conte feels Chelsea's meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday might be a good opportunity to see club captain John Terry return to the fold.
Chelsea turn their focus to the FA Cup this weekend and Terry could make his comeback after requiring stitches following a collision with Marcos Alonso last week, with the experienced centre-half having trained with the squad ahead of the match at Molineux.
David Luiz and Marcos Alonso are set to be rested for the game but Chelsea are expected to put out a strong line up against the team that has knocked both Liverpool and Stoke out of the competition. Conte confirmed that he is considering a Terry return on Friday at Cobham Training Centre.
"Yes, but John is working very well and I'm pleased," he said. "I'm pleased for his work during the training sessions, yes. And he's working very well. He's in good form. Tomorrow could be a good solution for me to pick him and to start to play in the line-up.
"He's working very well and I'm pleased for his attitude, for his behaviours, for his work-rate. He's showing me to be a great footballer, but above all a great person. I'm pleased for this.
Getty"I think that it's important for the group, for the players that I always to try to make the best decision for the team and to understand the moment, the situation, the team we have to face, to understand to find the right balance.
"FA Cup is a great competition. We want to go in this competition to try to fight until the end to try to win, [not] to find a solution to make someone happy. I have to show always respect to my players and to make the best decision in every game.
"Doing this, tomorrow for sure I'll try to make the best decision for the club. To see the next game, against Wolverhampton, then the next game in the league and then I'll try to make the best decision."
Kurt Zouma and Nathan Ake are also in contention to face Wolves but rotation will be kept to a minimum with Chelsea having the luxury of a week long break between games due to their absence from European competition.