Enzo Maresca has expressed his hope Cole Palmer could return from injury to face Barcelona on Nov. 25.
The 23-year-old playmaker has been battling a groin problem he first sustained in August and then aggravated the following month with his last appearance coming on Sept. 20 at Manchester United.
Chelsea face FK Qarabag on Wednesday before hosting Wolves in their final outing prior to the November international break.
They then resume on Nov. 22 with three games in eight days against Burnley, Barcelona and Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Asked whether Palmer could be back to face Barcelona, Maresca said on Tuesday: "We hope so, but with Cole we try to plan, we try to schedule, you know, at the beginning. Then we need to review that. So in this moment we go day by day with Cole. He's not taking any session with the team.
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"And we have Benoît Badiashile that probably can be available after the international break and that is for us is a huge news.
"To be honest, I would like to have Cole here tomorrow. I would like to have Cole early. I said many times that we are a better team with Cole. Unfortunately for us, he's out, he's injured, but for sure we want him back very soon."
Pedro Neto will miss the trip to Azerbaijan with what Maresca described as a "small issue" which forced his absence from training.
