Chelsea get Dario Essugo injury boost but no sign of one key man in training before Arsenal showdown

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Evening Standard

·25 February 2026

Chelsea get Dario Essugo injury boost but no sign of one key man in training before Arsenal showdown

Blues hope summer signing is closing in on return after injury nightmare

Chelsea face Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Sunday

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Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Chelsea have been handed an injury boost after Dario Essugo returned to training.

Following a month out of action with his latest injury, the midfielder was pictured in training for the first time on Tuesday as the squad got back on the grass and began preparations for their trip to Arsenal on Sunday.

It has been a difficult first season at Chelsea for 20-year-old Essugo, who has not made a single first-team appearance since the Club World Cup last summer due to injuries.

He underwent successful surgery in September following a serious thigh injury sustained on international duty with Portugal Under-21s.

Dario Essugo has not made a single first-team appearance for Chelsea this season

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

When he eventually returned to training in December, he then suffered an unrelated setback which kept him out for a number of weeks after that.

He was fit enough to then be named on the bench last month for both of Liam Rosenior’s first two matches in charge, the FA Cup win at Charlton and Carabao Cup semi-final first leg defeat to Arsenal at the Bridge.

But then he had a freak slip in training last month which has kept him out for around four weeks.

Not spotted in any of the photographs published by Chelsea was Estevao, who has been out with a hamstring injury.

Rosenior will provide an update on the hamstring injuries to both Estevao and defender Marc Cucurella when he speaks at his pre-Arsenal press conference on Friday.