£20m signing will finally get his chance today – a huge moment for his Chelsea future

Carney Chukwuemeka is in line for a long awaited start for Chelsea later today.

Mauricio Pochettino will want to shake his team up given the lack of turnaround time since Tuesday night’s game, and Chukwuemeka should be ready for a start by now.

He’s been off the injury report for a couple of weeks, training normally. He’s now also had two appearances off the bench (albeit one for just a couple of minutes). Mauricio Pochettino wasn’t asked specifically about him in the press conference yesterday, but we’re confident that the midfielder is now ready for his first start since August – one which would come against his old club.

Conor Gallagher will also likely come back in after a midweek rest. Then Pochettino will decide between Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo for the other slot, likely based on the fitness data from training.

It will be brilliant to see Carney back after so long out – let’s hope he can pick up where he left off. He’s barely had a kick since his £20m move from Villa two years ago (Sky Sports), this needs to be the start of a consistent run, for his sake.