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Just 68 hours separate Ecuador and Argentina kicking off and Chelsea's Premier League match with Brentford on Saturday evening. Ecuador beat their South American rivals by one goal to nil in the early hours of Wednesday morning (UK time), with Enner Valencia grabbing the decisive goal.
Moises Caicedo started for the Ecuadorians but was shown a second-half red card after being booked twice. While, ironically, Enzo Fernandez was not in the Argentina squad due to suspension.
The match was played in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with a flight there to London taking over 14 hours. There is a chance Caicedo will return to training at Chelsea's base in Cobham on Thursday, meaning he will have little over 48 hours to prepare for the Blues' clash with Brentford on Saturday night (8pm BST kick-off).
Enzo Maresca is boosted with Fernandez, who has scored in back-to-back games for Chelsea, not traveling with his country, with the Argentina international training with his Blues teammates this week instead. However, the Chelsea head coach will be left to sweat on the condition of three other key players, who have all been in South America this week.
Joao Pedro, Estevao Willian and Andrey Santos all featured for Brazil as they were defeated 1-0 away in Bolivia. Municipal Stadium El Alto was the venue as the hosts pulled off a shock result, with Santos the only one of the Chelsea trio who started in Carlo Ancelotti's side, with Joao Pedro and Estevao both second-half substitutes.
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Santos is in line for some sort of minutes at the Gtech Community Stadium over the weekend because not only are Caicedo's preparations far from ideal, but the Ecuadorian has also been struggling with his fitness recently. If Maresca can start last season's most valuable player, then he will do that - due to his significance to the side - but if not, then Santos could come in.
Dario Essugo, signed to support Caicedo, underwent successful surgery on a thigh injury earlier in the week with the midfielder suffering the problem while on international duty with Portugal Under-21s. Romeo Lavia has trained this week having not featured yet this season and is closing in on a return to action.
Cole Palmer was also spotted by some eagle-eyed supporters at Chelsea's Surrey training base with fans desperate for the 23-year-old to return at Brentford. Palmer has missed the last two matches due to a groin problem, after limping out of the warm-up session ahead of Chelsea's win against West Ham United last month.
Maresca will be hopeful the players reporting back over the next couple of days will be without any injuries as Chelsea look to move to the top of the Premier League table with three points on Saturday. Liverpool travel to Burnley on Sunday afternoon, so there is an opportunity for the Blues to boast top spot, albeit for a short time, potentially.
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