The Blues trave; tp Roy Hodgson’s struggling Eagles next Saturday.

Antonio Conte may be without his star striker for the game following his hamstring injury.

Morata was withdrawn during Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester City prior to the international break.

However, he tweeted yesterday he was hoping to recover in time to face Palace, despite initial fears of a six-week lay-off.

Hodgson has even bigger problems of his own, though.

The Daily Express says bottom of the Premier League table Palace will be without star attacking trio Wilfried Zaha, Christian Benteke and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

The latter two were already set to miss out with attacking midfielder Loftus-Cheek ineligible due to being on loan from Chelsea.

Benteke, meanwhile, is out with a knee injury and not due back until mid-November.

But Hodgson had hoped key man Zaha, who last featured on the opening day, would be fit.

However, the Daily Express add the Palace boss now expects the winger won’t play, having not fully recovered from a knee problem.

With Palace not feeling they can call on Zaha, it means they head into their eighth league game without a win, a point, a goal or a recognised striker.

Bakary Sako led the line at Manchester United on Saturday as Palace lost 4-0.

As a result, Chelsea could afford to leave Morata out and opt for either Michy Batshuayi or Willian as his replacement.

Chelsea host Roma in the Champions League afterwards on October 18.

And if Morata’s ambitions of a swift return are not overly optimistic, he could be back then.