Chelsea injury concerns grow as Joao Pedro and Reece James miss training

Chelsea could be without Joao Pedro and Reece James for Friday night’s match at Brentford after the pair were not seen in the opening part of training at Cobham on Tuesday.

Their absence will concern manager Xabi Alonso, although it remains unclear whether either player missed the entire session. Sky Sports cameras are permitted to film only the first 15 minutes of Chelsea’s training, meaning Joao Pedro and James could have joined the rest of the squad later.

Both players completed all 90 minutes of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Hull City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and neither appeared to be suffering from an obvious injury during the match.

Their availability for the Brentford fixture is therefore uncertain, with Alonso expected to give an update on Thursday.

Moises Caicedo was also not present during the part of Tuesday’s session shown to cameras and appears unlikely to play against Brentford.

The midfielder has had a difficult start to the campaign. He missed Chelsea’s first two matches before returning against Brighton, but was replaced after only 14 minutes.

A calf problem then ruled Caicedo out of the games against Arsenal, Leeds and Hull City.

Palestra and Henderson return to training

Marco Palestra and Jordan Henderson were both involved in Tuesday’s training session.

Palestra has not played competitively since joining Chelsea from Atalanta. He suffered a knock in training after arriving at the club and has yet to make his competitive debut.

Henderson is also closing in on his first Chelsea appearance after recovering from a broken wrist.