Not playing until Monday evening provides the Blues with extra time to recover following Wednesday night's impressive victory at Aston Villa.

And Pochettino and his team have already shifted their focus onto the next challenge: securing three precious Premier League points south of the river.

Under the watchful gaze of the Chelsea head coach and his staff, our first-team squad was put through its paces at Cobham this morning in both the gym and out on the pristine training pitches.

The Blues boss believes the trip to Palace offers an ideal chance to build on the recent cup success, with the win at Villa one of the strongest showings of the season so far.

'I think in the way we are training, the way the players behave, the attitude we are showing. I think we are improving,' Pochettino told the media on Friday following training.

'Yes, it's about winning the next game and getting the feelings we can build from Aston Villa.'

There was a welcome boost heading into Monday evening's game with Levi Colwill back in training. The Academy graduate has missed the previous four matches but may make his return at Selhurst Park.

'Levi Colwill maybe [could return],' he told the media. 'We need to wait until Sunday to see if it is possible for him to be available.'

Pochettino also delivered another positive update on Trevoh Chalobah, who has yet to feature this season due to an injury sustained in pre-season.

'Chalobah is still doing well,' added Pochettino. 'He is still training with the team. Other than that, nothing to update at the moment.'

After back-to-back defeats in the Premier League, Pochettino is hopeful the cup success at Villa can provide a springboard to his side finding consistency in the top flight.

'The performance was really good,' he said. 'We really feel good, we analysed the need to compete in different ways, the way we competed in the Aston Villa game, was the way we need to approach all games.

'We need to feel we can perform in this way. I think it was a good opportunity and a good game, but now we need to try and be consistent in the next game.'

However, the Argentine is under no illusion of how difficult a test it will be despite Palace going into the weekend sitting 14th in the Premier League table.

'I admire Roy [Hodgson], he is an unbelievable coach. There is no doubt he will be successful with Palace, hopefully after our game.

'But it is going to be a difficult game, they have a squad that can deal with their injury situation.'

Pochettino will have plenty of attacking talent to choose from for the trip to Selhurst. Cole Palmer led the line expertly against Villa, while Nicolas Jackson scored his first goal since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Fellow forwards Raheem Sterling and Christopher Nkunku came off the bench during the win at Villa Park and both took part in Friday's session.