Chelsea's Tiemoue Bakayoko has spent injury spell learning from nightmare Watford display

Bakayoko was sent off against Watford
Getty Images
Vaishali Bhardwaj9 March 2018

Antonio Conte says he fully trusts Tiemoue Bakayoko, who the Chelsea coach revealed has spent his recent time out injured learning from his nightmare last showing against Watford.

Bakayoko had a game to forget in early February when he was sent off in the 30th minute of Chelsea's Premier League clash away to Watford after being booked twice in the space of just five minutes.

The 23-year-old hasn't played since because of an injury, but returned to training this week. He could now make Conte's squad for Chelsea's game at home to Palace on Saturday evening.

Ahead of that match at Stamford Bridge, Conte admitted that Bakayoko has spent his time out injured reflecting on his performance against Watford and insisted the midfielder still has his full trust.

"If I have to see a positive aspect about his injury... because he had a lot of time to metabolise the bad performance against Watford," Conte told reporters.

"Now he's training with us for a week. His physical condition is not bad. But don't forget that Baka is only 22 years old. He's a really young player.

"This season, I think we are paying a bit for a lack of experience of many players. About Baka, he has the right personality to become an important player for Chelsea. I hope in the present but, for sure, in the future.

In Pictures | Manchester City vs Chelsea | 04/03/2018

1/24

"We are working with him in the same way that we are working with the strikers, with [Andreas] Christensen, with every single player."

When asked if he still trusts Bakayoko, Conte replied: "Yes, for sure. Only because, don't forget, in the squad there are four midfielders.

"I have to trust (them). I must trust in my players. I have to continue to insist and trust."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in