Kurt Zouma made his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt on Monday evening, his first in nine months after picking up a knee injury in February.
The Frenchman was sidelined with cruciate ligament damage after an awkward looking fall during Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United nine months ago, but made his first major step to returning to full fitness by playing in a competitive game.
The Blues’ Under-23 side drew 2-2 with Derby County’s U23’s, however, Zouma was guilty of giving away a 35th-minute penalty during his first-half performance.
The 21-year-old was substituted at half-time as he continues his recovery and gains match fitness and Antonio Conte revealed that he is hoping that Zouma will return to full training this week.
The Frenchman, who has been training with the development side, will face a tougher challenge to regain his first-team place then he may have a month ago.
This time last month, Zouma would have waltzed past the likes of Gary Cahill and David Luiz back into the first team after Chelsea had drawn 2-2 with Swansea and had lost 2-1 to Liverpool and 3-0 to Arsenal.
However, Chelsea have reaped the rewards under Conte’s 3-4-3 formation, winning three consecutive league matches in October, keeping a clean sheet in all three games.
Zouma will still be in contention for a starting spot upon his return to full fitness, though his task to make Conte’s starting XI could be made even tougher should Chelsea keep a fourth clean sheet in a row against West Ham in the EFL Cup on Wednesday evening.
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