Chelsea face Everton in the Premier League but could find themselves four points behind Liverpool ahead of kick-off.
Chelsea have confirmed that they will be without two key defenders as Liverpool aim to pull clear in the battle for Champions League qualification.
The Reds sit fifth in the table, one point above the Stamford Bridge outfit with eight fixtures remaining. Liverpool are in action when they travel to Brighton & Hove Albion at lunchtime, with Chelsea not playing until the evening against Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Certainly, Kopites will be hoping that their Merseyside rivals can do them a favour and beat Chelsea. And the London side, who were dumped out of the Champions League earlier this week after a 8-2 aggregate loss to Paris Saint-Germain, will have a shortage of defensive options. Trevoh Chalobah had to be stretchered off against PSG and the centre-back is set to be absent for around six weeks.
Head coach Liam Rosenior said at his pre-match press conference: “I think everyone's seen it and then you're really, really worried for the next day. Obviously, it's never good that Trevoh is out for any period of time, but fortunately, it's nowhere near as serious as we first feared. It's still a serious injury, but we're looking at a period of maybe six weeks, which is disappointing. But from where we were a couple of days ago, straight after the game, yeah, we are in a better place than what we were before.”
In addition, captain Reece James has a hamstring injury which means he will miss out against Everton while Levi Colwill is still recovering from a ruptured ACL.
Rosenior also confirmed that goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen has had to have a minor operation, so Robert Sanchez - whose position has come under significant scrutiny - will continue between the posts.
Rosenior said: “Filip, unfortunately, he had his scan and he needed a minor operation. Nothing too serious. Again, that's a matter of weeks, but he'll go through the wars at the moment. And Reece, we're going to look more at after the international break. It's not serious, but there is something in his hamstring and that's something that we'll monitor after the international break.”
Chelsea will hope that Malo Gusto and Benoît Badiashile can return from illness to feature against Everton.
Continue Reading