Chelsea's Benoit Badiashile 'suffers fresh setback in recovery from injury'

After arriving from Monaco in January, Badiashile went on to make 11 Premier League appearances in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign.

However, he has not featured for the club since a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest in May due to a serious hamstring injury.

As a result, Badiashile is yet to feature under Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino, who has utilised the likes of Thiago Silva, Axel Disasi and Levil Colwill in central defence in the early stages of the new season.

There was hope that Badiashile would recover in time to be included in the matchday squad for Sunday's Premier League game against Aston Villa.

According to football.london, the centre-back is set to miss the home meeting with the Villans after suffering a minor setback last week.

The report claims that the France international is currently working on his own at Chelsea's Cobham training base.

The 22-year-old defender is now hoping to resume full training with the first-team squad at some stage next week.

Pochettino will be eagerly anticipating Badiashile's return to action, as the Chelsea head coach continues to contend with a lengthy injury list.

Summer additions Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku are all currently sidelined with injury issues.

They are joined in the treatment room by Wesley Fofana, Carney Chukwuemeka, Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Marcus Bettinelli.

Armando Broja is still working his way back from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, while Marc Cucurella and Noni Madueke have been struggling with illness and injury respectively.

While it remains to be seen whether any absentees will recover in time for Sunday's clash, Pochettino will be looking for his side to claim their second Premier League win of the season.

After picking up just five points from as many games, Chelsea head into the weekend in 14th position in the Premier League table.