How should Chelsea line up against Brentford after the international break?

We emerge from yet another international break, with Chelsea once again facing down a congested fixture list over the next three weeks, before the next international interruption (and the last for the year, until next spring in fact).

As is tradition, we have multiple injury and fitness concerns among the squad, some stemming from international duty, some more long-standing.

While Thomas Tuchel won’t address the media until tomorrow, we do have some news and pictures from training today, which include Romelu Lukaku and Reece James both partaking. The former was excused halfway through the break by Belgium for muscle fatigue while the latter missed England duty with a sprained ankle.

Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

In less good news, neither Antonio Rüdiger nor N’Golo Kanté can be seen in the pictures from the training ground. Toni missed Germany’s second game with some back problems, which were supposedly minor, while Kanté has been coming back from quarantine following a positive test. He returned to training earlier this week already, so hopefully he’s still good to go for the weekend.

Still no sign of Christian Pulisic either, while Thiago Silva won’t be available due to expected late return from Brazil duty.

Choose wisely.

(Live results)