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Mauricio Pochettino was in a buoyant mood on Friday afternoon as he spoke to the media at Cobham.

Ahead of Chelsea's trip to Aston Villa on Saturday night, Pochettino has only had a few days to work with his players following the 5-0 drubbing they received at Arsenal on Tuesday. There is still a chance for the Blues to qualify for Europe this season but they will need to start picking up points again with just six games remaining of the campaign now.

The Chelsea head coach spoke about injuries, Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, Raheem Sterling, Carney Chukwuemeka and much more in his pre-match press conference. Below, Bobby Vincent has written the full transcript from Pochettino.

Team news? Positive news on Reece James and Levi Colwill...

«No, they are not available yet. They are close. Today and yesterday they were doing some partial training with the squad. They are close but still not available.»

Will Cole Palmer be back?

«Yes. Cole was training well in the last few days. We assume he is going to be ready for tomorrow and be part of the squad.»

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Is it a worry how much you rely on Palmer?

«We can talk, we can talk, we can talk, but in the end this is the reality. Cole is a very good player for us and he is a key player. He is showing we struggle a little bit without him. That is the reality we cannot hide.»

Is there a lack of character?

«No, that is not true because we conceded the first goal, of course, after four minutes and then the players, the team was there, we created some chances. The team was in the game.

»Then we started the second-half and after

Enzo Fernandez Aston Villa Cole Palmer Mauricio Pochettino Levi Colwill Reece James Bobby Vincent