LONDON -- Ross Barkley is set to start for Chelsea against Newcastle in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday as Antonio Conte seeks to "accelerate" his return to peak condition amid a growing injury list.
Willian limped out of Wednesday's 2-1 defeat against Arsenal in Wednesday's Carabao Cup semifinal second leg after just 30 minutes with a hamstring problem, joining Alvaro Morata (back), Cesc Fabregas (hamstring) and Thibaut Courtois (ankle) on the sidelines.
Conte indicated that Barkley, who replaced Willian to make his Blues debut at the Emirates Stadium, could feature prominently as he steps up his recovery from a serious hamstring injury sustained in May.
"Morata, Courtois are out," Conte said when asked about Chelsea's injury situation. "I don't know [how long] because it's very difficult to tell, how many days they need to come back.
"Morata has this problem in his back, Courtois took a kick in his ankle. Fabregas trained today and tomorrow I will check his physical condition, but this is good news for us.
"Willian is out. Today with the doctor he had a scan to evaluate his injury, but I don't think we're talking about a serious injury."
Asked about Barkley's readiness, Conte replied: "After a bad injury you need a bit of time to be 100 percent fit, but if you want to accelerate this process he has to play, not only have a training session."
Injuries have compounded Chelsea's problems at the end of a week in which Conte appeared to escalate tensions with the club hierarchy, lamenting the lack of options on his substitutes' bench after the Arsenal loss and insisting that he has little impact on the Premier League champions' transfer policy.
Asked about the growing uncertainty over his future at Stamford Bridge, Conte replied: "Nothing has changed. There was the summer, then after the summer nothing has changed."
On the subject of his relationship with the board, he added: "This is normal, but at the same thing it's something I don't want to discuss with you."
Conte was then pressed on whether he is happy at Chelsea. "I'm happy to work with my players, to work for this club. I'm happy to try every day to put all of myself for this job."