Victor Moses returns to Chelsea squad for Liverpool clash after eight-match absence

Victor Moses will return to the Chelsea squad for Saturday's (25 November) heavyweight Premier League clash with Liverpool, manager Antonio Conte has revealed.

The Nigerian international limped off with a hamstring injury after just 39 minutes of a shock 2-1 defeat away to former club Crystal Palace on 14 October and has since missed eight matches across all competitions - during which time summer signing Davide Zappacosta has mostly deputised at right wing-back after the versatile Cesar Azpilicueta was moved back into defence.

However, Moses resumed outdoor training before last weekend's rout of struggling West Bromwich Albion and Conte revealed after the match at The Hawthorns that he was "progressing well" with his recovery from a grade-three tear that proved to be worse than first feared.

The 26-year-old was expected to be in contention for the meeting with Liverpool at Anfield after missing the 5,000-mile Champions League round trip to Azerbaijan in midweek and it has now been confirmed that he will take a seat on the bench at Anfield.

"His condition is good and for sure he needs a bit of time to recover the best form," Conte told reporters during his pre-match press conference at Cobham on Friday, per football.london.

"Tomorrow he is in our squad and I want to bring him on the bench and decide if there is the necessity to have him on or not. I am very happy as now he is fine, but needs a bit of time to have the best physical condition."

Chelsea will still be without Michy Batshuayi against Liverpool, with the back-up striker having aggravated a foot injury on international duty with Belgium earlier this month. Charly Musonda is still nursing a knee problem, while Kenedy missed Wednesday's 4-0 win over Qarabag in Baku with a muscular issue.

Conte had already lamented that his side were having to contest such a big domestic fixture less than 72 hours after their longest-ever European away trip to the South Caucasus and his mood was not improved by adverse weather conditions at Gatwick Airport that caused an initial landing attempt to be aborted on Thursday [23 November] morning.

"It was a problem to land," he said. "I think to get to your house at six o'clock In the morning is not simple to then rest and recover. We've only had one day to prepare for a big game and I think this is not right, I must be honest.

"But we have to do this and today we've had a good training session and we've tried to prepare for the game against Liverpool very well. I think to only have one day to prepare for a big game, especially to only have one day to rest is not right for all the teams, not only for Chelsea."

Conte said he had tried to speak to Chelsea regarding the fixture scheduling in an attempt to get the Premier League to pay more attention in future, although insisted it was "right not to find an allibi or excuse against a really good team like Liverpool" after a strange and intensive week.