Mauricio Pochettino handed timely triple boost ahead of Chelsea vs Aston Villa with stars retuning to Cobham

Chelsea are beginning to get players back in training just in time for their crucial Premier League game against Aston Villa this weekend.

Both Noni Madeuke and Marc Cucurella who missed the boring draw against Bournemouth returned to team training on Tuesday while striker Armando Broja is now looking to play in a behind-the-scene friendly game as he builds up his recovery and hopes to return for the first this year.

Chelsea have almost 12 first-team players out through injury including captain Reece James, new signing Moises Caicedo and defender Wesley Fofana.

There’s also Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile all making progress even though Chelsea will need to navigate a tough league game against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa this weekend.

The Blues have the youngest squad in the league with an average age of 23.5 and even that is highly inflated by Thiago Silva who is turning 39 this week but still looks as capable as anyone else.

In five games, Chelsea have won only one, and that came against newly promoted Luton while defeats to West Ham United and Nottingham Forest have not helped a smooth take-off Pochettino had anticipated.

The positive thing is that they are creating chances and there is the feeling that when it does click it will be a team that will challenge for the top four.

Manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted his team have been performing even though they need to be positive going forward.

He said: “I am disappointed but not frustrated, because in this type of process obviously, you need some luck in some situations. I don’t want to take credit away from Nottingham Forest because they knew how they should play.

‘But we were not clinical in both halves. We made a mistake and we conceded and then you created many opportunities and we dominated, but it wasn’t perfect. We didn’t score and when you don’t score it is difficult to win games.

‘The opening was positive, in the way that in the first 45 minutes, we didn’t concede any chances, apart from one corner and one free-kick. And after they didn’t create too many things. But we need to be more clinical and more efficient to score goals and to win the game.”