Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has confirmed that defender Kurt Zouma is ahead of schedule as he tries to get match fit following a serious knee injury.
The 21 year old France international had targeted a return to the first team squad in September, but is already joining fully with the squad and could come back sooner than that.
However, Conte still might take the cautious approach and explained: "Zouma is improving a lot and this is good news for us.
"But we know that his injury was very bad and for this reason we must respect him.
"It's important that Zouma takes his time to be sure to go into the team and to stay till the end.
"For me it's important to see that he is improving and I am very happy for the guy.
"His injury was very, very bad."