Chelsea forward Joao Pedro is raring to return to the pitch after nursing an injury and could feature in the upcoming match against Bournemouth.
It was almost a month ago that the Brazilian heroically rescued Chelsea from dropping points in a home clash against Hull, who recently secured promotion. Since then, Joao Pedro has been sidelined and has not featured in any competitive matches for the first team.
Before the London derby against Brentford, the forward was omitted from the Brazil national team call-up. However, Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso has not ruled out the possibility of him being involved in the game.
Unfortunately for the Blues, Joao Pedro missed the recent encounter with Brentford, which ended in a disappointing 0-3 defeat for Chelsea, due to his knee injury.
Earlier reports from Standard Sport indicated that the 25-year-old was facing issues with his knee and had sought specialist treatment in London. This step was taken to facilitate a quicker recovery.
During the pre-match press conference ahead of the Bournemouth fixture, Alonso confirmed that the player has been cleared to return to training and is ready to play.
“All of them were able to train, some have come back earlier, others later. The same goes for Marco Palastra. That was our plan.”
“We knew that before the match against Brentford, we had players who were facing issues, but they trained well and are ready to return,” said the Spanish manager.
It remains uncertain whether Joao Pedro will be included in the starting lineup, as Alonso may not want to rush the return of one of his key forwards to avoid aggravating the knee injury.
In Joao Pedro's absence against Brentford, Danny Welbeck took up the striking role. However, the summer signing from Brighton was unable to adequately fill the void left by the Brazilian.
