Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has confirmed Alvaro Morata is in contention to start against Roma on Wednesday after recovering from a hamstring injury.
Morata missed Chelsea’s shock 2-1 defeat away to Crystal Palace on Saturday after suffering the injury before the international break and it was initially feared he could miss the remainder of October.
However, the Spain international returned to training at the start of the week and Conte has revealed there is a chance he will throw the 24-year-old back into first-team action from the start.
“Alvaro is in contention for tomorrow’s game, he has trained with us,” Sky Sports quote Conte as saying in his pre-match press conference.
“For sure when there are injuries of this type to important player it is very difficult for us but there is this situation and we must be very good to overcome it and to do our best.
“For sure it is not simple when I don’t have important players. The problem is we are always playing the same players, and also we have in our team players who are not used to playing 10 games in a row.
“For [Victor] Moses it is difficult to play 10 games in a row, for Morata it is difficult to play regularly with this team, and for Marcos Alonso it is the same.
“When you have a lot of players you need to rotate players and if this is not possible I have to take risks. For example, against Manchester City, Morata was injured after 20 minutes, but if I don’t put Morata in the starting XI you tell me I am crazy.
“Sometimes the players need to rest.”
Conte reportedly ripped into his players after defeat to Palace and Morata’s potential return will be a huge boost for the reigning Premier League champions.
Morata has made a sublime start to life at Chelsea since making a £70m move from Real Madrid over the summer and his availability will only enhance their chances of maintaining their 100% record in Europe.
In Europe’s top five leagues this season, only Falcao (4) has scored more headed goals than Morata (3).
