Chelsea provide updates on Thiago Silva & Romelu Lukaku ahead of Brentford clash

Chelsea have confirmed that centre-back Thiago Silva will miss the west London derby against Brentford on Saturday, with the match coming too soon after Brazil's World Cup qualifier against Uruguay.

Silva played the full 90 minutes on Thursday night as the Seleçao ran out 4-1 winners in Manaus. However, any hope of him featuring in the Premier League's late kick off has been dashed with the game finishing at 3.30am UK time on Friday - 38 hours before the Blues are due to get underway against their local rivals.

Chelsea confirmed the defender's absence among the team news on their official website, although there is better news for the Blues regarding N'Golo Kante, Reece James and Romelu Lukaku.

Kante and James returned to training earlier this week and have been 'restored to readiness' following a positive COVID-19 test and an ankle injury respectively.

Lukaku had been a doubt having returned to his club from international duty early with muscle fatigue, but he is deemed 'likely' to play having had a few extra days rest before training on Thursday.

There is no update on Antonio Rudiger, who injured his back playing for Germany and has not been pictured in training since, although head coach Thomas Tuchel is due to speak in his pre-match press conference later on Friday.

It was always likely that 37-year-old Silva would be forced to miss the short trip west, with several other Premier League players in the same boat having featured in the same qualifier.

Ederson and Gabriel Jesus of Man City, Man Utd's Fred and Edinson Cavani, Liverpool's Fabinho and Leeds' Raphinha all started the game at the Amazonia Arena, while Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz came off the bench for the hosts and Reds keeper Alisson was a substitute.

They are subsequently all very unlikely to feature in domestic action this weekend, with Fabinho admitting as much on Thursday.

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