Chelsea are set to be without nine players for the visit of Liverpool on Saturday, with head coach Enzo Maresca confirming the club’s injury situation.
Liverpool head to Stamford Bridge this weekend with both Alisson and Giovanni Leoni already ruled out and late calls to be made over Hugo Ekitike and Federico Chiesa.
But the Premier League champions find themselves in a stronger position than their opponents in terms of injuries despite a slew of issues developing in midweek.
Chelsea are set to be without the following players:
Levi Colwill (ACL), Cole Palmer (groin), Liam Delap (thigh), Tosin Adarabioyo (calf), Wesley Fofana (concussion), Trevoh Chalobah (suspension), Andrey Santos (muscle), Dario Essugo (thigh) and Mykhailo Mudryk (suspension).
Maresca spoke to journalists on Friday morning and, per Football.London‘s Bobby Vincent, revealed there was currently no timeframe on Palmer’s return to the side.
It means the Italian coach could turn to youngster Estevao to play in the No. 10 role, while Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens are among Chelsea‘s other options in attack.
There were also doubts over both Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro in the lead up to Chelsea‘s 1-0 victory over Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday, but the former played 90 minutes and the latter came on for half an hour.
Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti did however omit Pedro from his squad for the upcoming international break as he is “not 100 percent fit.”
If he is not able to start against Liverpool it could mean Maresca will turn to the inexperienced Marc Guiu, of whom he said: “Marc is working well this week.
“He has worked very, very good. Much better compared to the first weeks when he came back.
“But for sure he’s going to get minutes with us and he’s going to play games.”
Possible Chelsea XI: Sanchez; James, Badiashile, Acheampong, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Estevao, Buonanotte, Neto; Pedro
Chelsea’s shaky recent form
Chelsea suffered their first home league defeat of the calendar year last Saturday after a run of 12 undefeated – nine wins, three draws.
They have now not won in their last three league games since a 2-0 home win over Fulham, and their clean sheet in the 1-0 win over Benfica on Tuesday was their first in six matches.
The Blues have conceded at last twice in each of the last three league games, as many as they had done in the 15 matches prior to that.
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