The 21-year-old missed out defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday night due to illness but returned to partial team training yesterday and today took part in the full session at our base in Surrey.

And head coach Mauricio Pochettino says Palmer is in contention to return to the matchday squad tomorrow afternoon at Villa Park.

'Cole has trained well in the past two days,' the Blues boss explained at his pre-match press conference.' We assume he will be ready for tomorrow's game and be part of the squad.’

Pochettino is unable to call upon several players for tomorrow's game, with Enzo Fernandez, Carney Chukwuemeka and Raheem Sterling the latest players to be sidelined through injury.

'We talk about being all together but then another thing appears and it's another thing we need to deal with,' said the Blues head coach.

'But we need to be positive. The only way to move forward is to be positive and to never give up on our side.

'We are going to push and keep pushing to try to get the best from the players we have in our hands."

There are positives on the fitness front with the quintet of Robert Sanchez, Reece James, Levi Colwill, Lesley Ugochukwu and Christopher Nkunku back in partial team training this week.

The challenge for the Blues at Villa Park is to get quickly back to winning ways in the Premier League – our defeat at the Emirates ended a two-month unbeaten run in the top flight.

We have already beaten Unai Emery's side on their own patch this term, an impressive victory in an FA Cup fourth-round replay in which Conor Gallagher was on the scoresheet alongside Nicolas Jackson and Enzo.

Pochettino accepts the circumstances around our previous visit to Villa Park are very different from what we will face tomorrow evening, but he wants his players to display the confidence that comes with playing for Chelsea.

He said: 'It's true it's going to be difficult because Aston Villa are having a fantastic season but we are Chelsea, we need to feel that and sometimes show arrogance, in a good way, that we are Chelsea and we can perform.'