Silva out, Kante and Kovacic start – expected Chelsea line-up at Wolves

N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic could return to the Chelsea starting line-up today – earlier than boss Thomas Tuchel would have liked.

Jorginho and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are both doubts for the trip to face Wolves after picking up knocks in Thursday’s 1-1 draw at home to Everton.

It means Kante and Kovacic could start in midfield at Molineux despite a lack of game time.

Kante is back in the squad after injury but has not played for almost a month.

Kovacic, who was injured and then contracted Covid-19, only returned to training on Friday but might be asked to go straight back into the starting line-up.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Tuchel said: “Maybe we end up with N’Golo and Mateo Kovacic from the start.

“We need to find a balance now because we put everything on Jorginho’s shoulders and Ruben got injured yesterday.

“So let’s see. Maybe we are forced to do crazy stuff that we would normally not do.

“But what’s normal? We miss key players and have to find solutions.”

Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Callum Hudson-Odoi missed the Everton game after testing positive for Covid-19 and are isolating so will also be unavailable this weekend. Ben Chilwell also tested positive but in any case is out with a knee injury.

Kai Havertz was left out against Everton as he was feeling ill, but the German has tested negative and looks set to return up front.

With veteran defender Thiago Silva having played in midweek, he might well be rested for this game, with Andreas Christensen restored to the heart of the Blues defence.

Expected Chelsea line-up: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso; Mount, Ziyech, Havertz.