David Luiz has been training separately from the rest of the Chelsea squad as the defender prepares to return to action for the Blues.
The Brazilian defender was dropped by manager Antonio Conte after the 3-0 defeat against Roma, and a knee injury has kept him out of action even in rotated teams, since then.
At Cobham. Conte is likely to be a little late as Chelsea were still out training when I arrived. Luiz was working away from the main group #cfc
— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) January 2, 2018
Now the news that he’s back in training sounds good, although the fact that he’s in a separate group to the rest of the team indicates he’s not yet ready for full-time action yet.
Andreas Christensen has missed Chelsea’s last two games through illness, so this would really have been the perfect opportunity for Luiz to win his place in the team back with his competition sidelines. Instead, Antonio Rudiger and Gary Cahill have filled in the middle spot of the back three in those two games.
Both players performed well in that key spot, but neither has the excellent ability taking the ball out of defence that Luiz and Christensen do.
