Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has delivered positive fitness updates for both Edouard Mendy and N'Golo Kante ahead of Saturday's Champions League final against Manchester City.
Mendy, who hurt ribs in a collision with the goalposts during Chelsea's defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday, has undergone scans and they show nothing has been broken or seriously damaged.
"We hope to have him back in training on Wednesday," said Tuchel. "We had a huge improvement in the management of pain. We need a further update on Wednesday.
"Edou will play if he is fit and if he is not fit on Wednesday we will try on Thursday. And we will try on Friday and be always reasonable and take the responsibility for this decision.
"At the same time, we have trust if he cannot make it we have a strong guy on the bench with Kepa, who will take his place.
"So now the race is on. We are very happy, first of all, that the images don't show that the injury is too serious. At the moment we are positive but every hour counts. Hopefully the team around Edou and he himself can do enough and can help him enough to be on the pitch. It will be a good boost for us."
Kante has been out since tweaking a hamstring on Tuesday in the Premier League against Leicester.
"With N'Golo nothing has changed," said Tuchel. "I think about changing my tactics now and stop asking about N'Golo, just put him on the pitch in Wednesday's training and put him on the pitch when the game starts on Saturday.
"Maybe I will not speak to the doctors and physios any more so I hear no more doubts and no more complaints.
"Maybe I have to think about changing the tactics. But it looks good and I hope it stays like that."
