Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has been boosted by the return of Mateo Kovacic.

Kovacic is yet to feature for Chelsea this season through injury, as a knee injury has kept him out of action since pre-season.

Tuchel is pleased to have his key midfielder back, but he also revealed that the Croatian international will only feature from the bench for the final 20 minutes.

Tuchel has revealed the Croatia international isn’t yet ready to start, and he also ruled out N’Golo Kante for this tie.

He said: “He’s back in the group. N’Golo is the only one that did not train now this week. So everybody is back in training.

“Kova is back in the group and ready to play some 20 minutes [against Leicester].

“We miss him as a personality, his experience and his quality. It’s maybe 20 minutes at the moment.

“Was his first training week without reaction in the knee so we cannot rush things otherwise we will just sabotage our own plans with him. We need him long term. It’s good to have him back and as an option on the bench.”

Kalidou Koulibaly is also expected to miss the tie, after seeing red card against Leeds United.