* 31/03/2026
* 09:44
* Modified: 31/03/2026
**Port Vale head into their FA Cup quarter-final against Chelsea with a mounting injury list, leaving Jon Brady short of several senior players ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge.**
The tie offers a clear route into the last four for [Chelsea](https://thedeck.news/chelsea-boss-remains-tight-lipped-on-star-striker-exit/), but the bigger story from Vale’s side of it is how depleted Brady’s squad looks as the game approaches. While the glamour of a quarter-final against Premier League opposition should be one of the high points of their season, the reality is that Port Vale are limping into it with bodies missing and little sign of immediate relief.
That has already been an issue in League One, where the Valiants have struggled to build momentum while injuries have cut into Brady’s options. The cup run has offered supporters something to enjoy as relegation looms, but the physical toll of the campaign is still hanging heavily over the squad as they prepare for Chelsea.
Vale’s problems are piling up
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Brady has already made clear just how difficult the situation has become. Speaking about the state of his squad during the recent run of fixtures, he said:
> “You keep working everyday and you work to be better everyday and find a way to be better,” [he said recently](https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sport/football/blackpool-fc/port-vale-blackpool-injury-news-blackpool-league-one-5921809).
>
> “It is hard when bodies are just dropping like flies because of the schedule we have got at the moment and that’s really frustrating.
>
> “We will see when the dust settles in a couple of hours where we are at with the bodies we have got and we have to somehow put a team out that will compete.”
That is not the kind of message any manager wants to be sending before facing Chelsea, particularly away from home. Ben Heneghan remains sidelined, George Byers is still out, Jayden Stockley is absent, and Ryan Croasdale has been rated as a doubt rather than a certainty. Add in other longer-term issues that have disrupted Vale across recent weeks, and Brady is left piecing together a side rather than selecting one in ideal circumstances.
There is still fight in the group, and Brady has gone out of his way to stress that he will not let standards slip despite the situation. His words on that front were unmistakable.
> “In time, we will get this right and it is hard work but I am fighting so hard for this football club, I love it, I love it here and I won’t give in doing what we are trying to do.”
That attitude may resonate with Port Vale supporters, especially given the scale of the challenge in front of them. Chelsea have their own injury concerns, but their depth is on a completely different level, and that matters in ties like this. Vale are not simply facing a top-flight side, they are facing one with the resources to rotate, recover and still field major quality.
Big occasion, brutal timing
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Reaching the quarter-finals is supposed to be the reward, but instead, Port Vale go into one of the biggest games of the season carrying the kind of injury burden that makes an upset far harder to imagine.
There will still be belief, because that is what cup football demands, and Brady will want his team to show the same spirit they have shown in patches during a difficult campaign. But this feels like awful timing for Vale. The tie itself is prestigious, the stage is huge, and the financial and emotional upside is obvious, yet the reality is that Port Vale look set to arrive at Chelsea weakened, stretched and asking too much of too few.