Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has said that Eden Hazard is will return against Crystal Palace, but is unlikely he will to be able to play 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Hazard has been out due to a back injury since Chelsea’s draw with Manchester United in October.

Sarri who spoke ahead of Chelsea’s match against Crystal Palace said: “Yesterday, he [Hazard] had a large part of the training with the team but maybe he will not be ready to play for 90 minutes at the moment – because it was his first training for the past two weeks.

“Probably he will be able to play for 40-45 minutes, so for us it is important.”

When asked if Hazard would start or come on later, Sarri said: “I don’t know, I want to speak with him first.”

Sarri has made an excellent start to his career at Chelsea and, if the Blues avoid defeat this weekend, he will equal the record for the longest unbeaten start to a Premier League season by a new manager (11 games).

However, the Italian is unbothered about such personal achievements and said: “I don’t want to think about the record, we have to think only about the match and only about gaining points.

“The record is only a consequence of the match. I say to my players that only this match is important.”