With a trip to Brighton and Hove Albion on the horizon, Chelsea and Liam Rosenior have been handed a huge boost with the return to training of a star player
On Saturday evening, Chelsea were defeated for a sixth time in seventh games when Manchester United rocked up to Stamford Bridge and won for the first time in three games themselves.
Although Chelsea had more 'chances' than their counterparts, they failed to create anything of real note, and ultimately, it was as deserved win for United.
There has, as always, been an inquest into what went wrong for the team to lose yet another game. One of the consensus reasons was the absence of Joao Pedro, who was replaced in the XI by Liam Delap, with the 22-year old struggling to make an impact on the game.
The Brazilian missed the game with an unexpected thigh injury, leaving fans sweating over his immediate return to fitness, and whether or not he will be available for the FA Cup semi final against Leeds United at Wembley this weekend.
Well, there has been an update. Dom Smith of The Standard has confirmed that Pedro was spotted training on the gras ahead of tomorrow evening's game away to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Meanwhile, in his 13:30 BST press conference ahead of the game, manager Liam Rosenior said that the forward will be a "late call". So, you'd imagine he will have a fitness test ahead of the game and see from there.
Elsewhere in his press conference, the gaffer said thar Estevao will be unavailable for the trip to the South Coast, but fellow South American Enzo Fernandez - also taken off against United - is "ok".
Although it would be a huge boost to have Pedro available for the game against his former club, and Champions League qualification is important, the game against Leeds is the bigger priority at the moment.
Even if you think qualifying for the Champions League is more important than the FA Cup, there will be other games to try and secure qualification. If Chelsea lose to Leeds this weekend, the FA Cup will be gone, and the long wait for a domestic trophy will continue.
So, if he is not 100% fine physically, he should not start tomorrow. Perhaps on the bench in that case, but not in the XI. As painful as it is for those of us that have included him in their FPL free hit this week. Nightmare.
Certainly one to keep an eye on. It will certainly be interesting to see what starting XI Rosenior goes with tomorrow.
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