Calum McFarlane confirms Chelsea team news for Tottenham Hotspur visit

It is a quick turnaround for the Blues following Saturday’s defeat to Manchester City at Wembley, with our final home game of the Premier League seeing relegation-threatened Spurs visiting Stamford Bridge.

McFarlane will have several decisions to make, including whether Colwill is in contention to feature. After nine months on the sideline due to a knee ligament injury, the 23-year-old has started back-to-back games against Liverpool and Man City.

He completed 90 minutes in both and was hugely impressive, but our interim head coach accepts the England international must be managed carefully in our remaining two matches of the season.

He explained: ‘We need to be careful with Levi. He's obviously off the back of a very serious injury and has performed well in those two games. We'll see how he looks today, how he reports, and we'll make a decision on that.

'It’s been great to have him back, great for English football as well. I think we've got a really talented, really high-potential player here. Injuries are a part of it, and he's shown really good mental strength and character to come through that and perform away at Anfield and in an FA Cup final.

'So we’re really, really excited about Levi and he’s added a lot to the team, not just on the pitch, but off the pitch as well. It's been a brilliant two games for him, and hopefully, he can finish the season strongly.’

Following our Wembley heartache, the Chelsea players reported back to Cobham yesterday (Sunday) to undertake recovery work. They will be back out on the grass this afternoon to complete preparation for Tottenham's visit, and McFarlane says decisions over the match-day squad will then be made.

'They’re going to train this afternoon and then we'll have a much better idea of where they are,' he said. 'It was a tough game on Saturday, so we'll have to see how they've reported in and how they look in training before we have any final say on the squad.

'They were in yesterday. [Hopefully] It's positive signs today when they report, and when they train, they feel good, and we'll make a decision on that as late as we possibly can.'

Three of the players who were absent from our squad on Saturday were Benoit Badiashile, Mamadou Sarr and Romeo Lavia, and McFarlane provided updates on the trio when asked by a journalist.

'Romeo took a slight knock in the build-up to the game,' he said. 'Nothing major, but with Romeo, we didn't want to take that risk. I thought he was brilliant in the games that he did play, and he gave us a lot the same way Levi did, but we just have to be careful with players that have had that injury history.'

On Badiashile and Sarr, McFarlane added: 'They didn't make the squad. They're training really well, training really hard. We can use them in the next two games, potentially, but we've got a lot of players in those positions, so you want to make sure you've got the right balance on your bench, but nothing to report with those two.'

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