The Football Association has approved the headguard Petr Cech is
to wear on his return from a fractured skull.
Cech could make his first appearance since recovering from a
serious head injury suffered against Reading back in October,
returning for Chelsea's game at Liverpool on Saturday.
Although Cech is now thought to be ready to make a playing return,
he will have to use protective headwear until given the all-clear
by specialists.
Referee Rob Styles, who will officiate Saturday's game, has
inspected the headguard and given it his approval, according to the
FA's head of senior referee development Neale Barry.
"As headguards are not part of the players' 'basic compulsory
equipment' as set out in the laws of the game, it's essential that
they are safe to wear," said Barry.
"This headguard is soft in construction with padded areas of dense
foam all over to protect the head of the wearer. It covers the ears
but there's a hole on each side so that his hearing is
unaffected.
"The helmet could cause no risk to the safety of either the wearer
or any team-mate or opponent of his whilst being worn. It has a
Velcro under chin strap and no extraordinary areas on the helmet
that could cause unnatural deviation of the ball if it were to
either strike the helmet or if the wearer were to head the
ball."
While Jose Mourinho has yet to confirm whether Cech will start at
the weekend, one player who will definitely not feature is
left-back Wayne Bridge.
The England international has suffered knee ligament damage and
will be out of action for at least the next fortnight.
"Petr Cech is fine. He is ready. I cannot tell you if he is playing
or not because the goalkeepers have to be the first ones to know my
decision, but he is ready," said Mourinho.
"We have a new injury with Wayne Bridge. Again a knee ligament, not
a big deal but a couple of weeks out. He is an important option for
us but now he is out too.
"Ashley Cole is back from suspension but nobody else is back and
Makelele is suspended."