Chelsea Football Club are continuing to undergo a rehabilitation programme. Or so it seems.

Mauricio Pochettino will be without 14 (fourteen) first-team players for Thursday night's clash with Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. The problems that have derailed an entire season have not been negated and, in fact, have continued to get worse.

The manager was unfortunately only able to add to an already lengthy pre-match injury list on Wednesday afternoon at Cobham. "No good news because we cannot recover any players from the list," he said. "But have added Thiago [Silva] and Disasi, they will not be available for tomorrow."

Chelsea were already working without 12 players having travelled to Aston Villa at the weekend. Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia are out for the season, as is Enzo Fernandez, following his surgery last week.

Lesley Ugochukwu is alongside a group of hopefully returning players to get back to partial and full team training in the past few days. He is yet to play in 2024, having last been seen on Christmas Eve in competitive action.

Reece James has also stepped up his own recovery, but attention is more on Christopher Nkunku and Levi Colwill. They have been working hard at Cobham to get to fitness, but Tottenham comes too soon.

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“They were training today normally," Pochettino explained of the duo. "We prepared for the game tomorrow [Thursday], we were doing some set-pieces, tactical work and meetings.

"They are nearly [there] but they are on the line, but they still have not crossed the line. Maybe for Sunday against West Ham, maybe they will be ready. We hope.”

Raheem Sterling is only in partial training, though, as is Robert Sanchez. It leaves just 11 fit senior players out of the 25 to have started a league game this season.

Expected to replace this group in the squad are a host of youngsters. Some players were nurtured through the age-groups at the Surrey training complex over years and some signed as part of the mass youth recruitment drive under Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital.

Having been in recent squads, Kiano Dyer, Tyrique George, and Josh-Kofi Acheampong are the most likely to feature. Dujuan Richards, Zak Sturge, and Leo Castledine all trained with the senior group ahead of the game as well.

Here, football.london predicts just how the squad will look against Tottenham. It's set to be the youngest of the season by far.

Goalkeepers: Djordje Petrovic, Marcus Bettinelli

Defenders: Alfie Gilchrist, Trevoh Chalobah, Benoit Badiashile, Marc Cucurella, Josh-Kofi Acheampong, Zak Sturge

Midfielders: Moises Caicedo, Conor Gallagher, Cesare Casadei, Kiano Dyer, Jimi Tauriainen

Attackers: Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Deivid Washington, Tyrique George, Dujuan Richards