The Blues face the Tigers in front of a sold-out MKM Stadium crowd on Friday night
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
14:00, 12 Feb 2026
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Marc Cucurella will miss the trip to East Yorkshire (Image: Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images))
Marc Cucurella will miss Friday night's FA Cup meeting with Hull City at the MKM Stadium after limping out of Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Leeds United, but captain Reece James could be available after illness.
Defender Cucurella picked up a hamstring injury against City's Yorkshire rivals, while James has been feeling under the weather in recent days, though he has been back in training.
Central defender Mamadou Sarr is also expected to play in his first game for the club after returning from a loan spell at Strasbourg last month, and a decision will be taken over Wesley Fofana, who continued his comeback from injury in midweek.
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‘For Marc, it’s too early to know," Liam Rosenior said of what Cucurella's absence could be. "He’s definitely out for the game against Hull. We’re doing our scans and assessments on him, and hopefully, it’s not too long
"Reece has done modified training, but he’s still under the weather. We’ll make a decision on Reece tomorrow, but it’s good news that he’s back on the training pitch. In terms of his injury, he’s absolutely fine. He’s had a really bad bug, but hopefully he’s recovered from that."
Head coach Rosenior, who is set to make his first return to the MKM Stadium since leaving almost two years ago, says he will send a strong team to East Yorkshire.
The Tigers are enjoying a fine season under Sergej Jakirovic and sit fourth in the Championship with 15 games of the season left, and Rosenior says he'll be treating the game like he would a Champions League or Premier League game.
"This is going to be a difficult game and I want to do well in this competition. I don't see it any differently than a Premier League game or a Champions League game," the ex-City chief continued.
"We will go there with a team I think will be good enough to win the game. I will want to take this game really seriously. We're going to have to because they're in good form and used to winning games at the moment."
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