Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel is considering bringing Tammy Abraham back into the first-team fold after a number of impressive training performances.
The 23-year-old hasn't featured for the Blues in two months, and was left out of the squad completely for the 1-0 FA Cup semi-final win over Manchester City at Wembley.
Abraham's exodus has largely been down to Tuchel opting to leave him out, though the England international has also been troubled by an ankle injury.
He's tentatively been linked with a move to West Ham because of his lack of minutes, but it appears his Chelsea career may not be over after Tuchel hinted in his latest press conference - ahead of a crunch Premier League clash with, ironically, the Hammers - that Abraham may have a role to play in the coming weeks.
"He has struggled for several reasons, one of the reasons are my decisions," Tuchel said, quoted by Chelsea's official website. "There are several other reasons, he was a bit unlucky, he was injured, we talked about it.
"He struggled a bit to accept the situation and he struggled a bit finding the solution to the situation, to be a bit stuck between his demands to himself, and his expectations about his role, the role he was suddenly in.
"But now I have the feeling that he has found a way to cope with it, which I am very happy about. He produced very good training sessions now in a row. This was the first step, and he has a high chance to be in the squad tomorrow. And as I said as a striker, you never know, things can change in one minute.”
Abraham has fond memories of playing West Ham, having scored in a routine 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge just before Christmas. Since then, he's largely been restricted to short cameos from the substitutes bench, and also netted the winner against Barnsley to help Chelsea continue their march towards a fourth FA Cup final in five seasons.
But the game on Saturday isn't all about Abraham, as the result at the London Stadium could have huge implications in the race for a top four finish - which would earn qualification into next season's Champions League. Despite that, Tuchel is looking at the bigger picture and insists there is long way to go, regardless of who may come out on top.
"Who knows what Leicester do in their next games, and then look at our fixtures," Tuchel added. "They are super difficult," he added. "I know about the importance of this match tomorrow, but lets assume for one minute that we win tomorrow. Do you think that we are through? Do you think it’s finished?
But y"It's by far not finished. Liverpool will never give up the fight for it, no other team below Liverpool will give up, and everybody who catches a streak can still be involved. I’m very sure that nobody at Leicester thinks that they have made it.
"We closed the gap very quickly and now we arrive in fourth place and the race is on until the last match.”
Source : 90min