Eden Hazard fit for Arsenal clash but cup semi-final comes too soon for Chelsea signing Ross Barkley

Eden Hazard has been declared fit and available for the first leg of Chelsea's Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal on Wednesday night (10 January), although new signing Ross Barkley will have to wait a little longer to make his debut for the club.

Hazard was omitted from the matchday squad for Saturday's [6 January] tedious FA Cup third-round stalemate away to Championship side Norwich City after being substituted during the latter stages of the 2-2 Premier League draw at the Emirates Stadium three days earlier - a thrilling encounter in which he both earned and netted a contentious second-half penalty.

Antonio Conte subsequently confirmed that the influential Belgian international was struggling with a problem in his calf, although such an issue will not rule him out of the second of three January meetings with London rivals Arsenal.

"Hazard is in a good condition, he is in contention for tomorrow's game," the manager confirmed in his pre-match press conference, per The Mirror.

Barkley completed his £15m ($20.2m) switch from Everton late on Friday [5 January] afternoon and remains unavailable with two bouts of surgery on groin and hamstring injuries have forced him to miss the entire 2017-18 season to date.

The 24-year-old, who signed a five-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge, worked alone with a fitness coach over the weekend as Conte claimed that he hoped to have him in contention "very quickly". He had only been back in full training with Everton for a couple of weeks before his departure.

Asked if Barkley was ready to play against Arsenal, the Italian, who has no other injury concerns with David Luiz now recovered from a knee problem, said he had begun to train with the team and that his condition was good. However, he refused to set a specific date for his debut.

"Tomorrow night is very soon, is very soon for him," Conte said. "We must be pleased because his physical condition is good and is starting to have the training session with us and understand our idea of football.

"We must be pleased, but he needs a bit of time. His condition is good, very good. I don't know [when he might play]. But I am very positive, he is a good guy and is showing a great will to work and desire to help us very soon. This is very positive and I am very happy to have Ross with us for the rest of the season."

Conte stressed the need for Chelsea to field a strong team tomorrow evening and suggested that the game presented an opportunity for further squad rotation after making nine changes against Norwich.

"From the start of the season we tried to find a good balance and give the right chances to everyone," he said. "In this competition it was important for us because we played these games with a young player.

"At the same time we played with a strong team. Our run wasn't easy, we have played Everton, Bournemouth and now Arsenal. Tomorrow is another opportunity to make rotations compared to the last game. But we want to win the game."