Chelsea’s injury problems show no sign of letting up as they welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge on Thursday. The Blues are seeking their first home league win over United since Antonio Conte managed it in November 2017 thanks to a goal from Alvaro Morata.
A victory on this occasion would significantly cut the gap to the top six with a game in hand remaining for Mauricio Pochettino’s side. This match-up involves two of the most shaky defences in the league though with inefficiency on and off the field being central to widespread failure in recent years.
To overcome that and set the standards for the remaining two months of the season Pochettino will have to go about it without a host of key players. Having dealt with a long injury list for much of the campaign there is no surprise that Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Lelsey Ugochukwu, and Romeo Lavia are out.
Christopher Nkunku is also no closer to a return. “I don’t know [how far away he is],” Pochettino told football.london on Wednesday. “Still we don’t know [if he will play again this season].”
The boss also explained: “To return to training? I don’t know what I said. At the moment we do not know when it is possible to start to train with the team. At the moment he is not training with us.
“That setback didn’t happen. I have no information about that. He is recovering and it has been longer than we expected. That was after the final, he played 30 or 40 minutes. The problem we didn’t know and we found after the game.
READ MORE: Christopher Nkunku Chelsea injury timeline explained as Mauricio Pochettino lifts lid on absence
READ MORE: Latest Chelsea injury news as seven players to miss Man United with Malo Gusto update
“This type of circumstance, it affects loads of things, too many players have suffered this season. I hope he can be involved again as soon as possible in the dynamic of the team and of course, if he should be really, really good before the end of the season, I hope he can be part of the team.”
No good signs there, but Trevoh Chalobah and Carney Chukwuemeka are both expected to be part of the matchday squad having missed the 2-2 draw with Burnley. The pair were both described as having been in team training ahead of the match.
The same is true of Malo Gusto after he had to be taken off in the latter stages of Saturday’s disappointment. The Frenchman also returned from international duty early the week before with illness and has had trouble remaining fully fit for much of the season – something owing to the unexpected demands on his body with James out for so long.
Gusto is set to be fit against United though. “Okay, Trevoh [Chalobah] and Malo [Gusto] have trained with us and I think they could be ready to be in the squad,” Pochettino explained. However, Ben Chilwell is out again having missed Burnley as well.
“Chilly (Ben Chilwell), no, Chilly, we didn’t see him until Friday; that was the last time we saw him because the doctor and medical staff removed some fluid from his knee,” the head coach said. “That was the situation to arrive from the national team.
“On Saturday, he got ill and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday [today] he was not here and at home trying to recover.” He added: “Robert Sanchez is training, we will see if he can be in the squad or not and the rest you have on the website.”
It leaves Chelsea with a similar squad to the one from Saturday but without the promise of much impending improvement. Here, football.london predicts what the matchday 20 will look like.
Goalkeepers: Djordje Petrovic, Rob Sanchez
Defenders: Malo Gusto, Alfie Gilchrist, Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Marc Cucurella, Trevoh Chalobah
Midfielders: Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Conor Gallagher, Cesare Casadei, Carney Chukwuemeka
Attackers: Mykhailo Mudryk, Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke, Deivid Washington
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