Thomas Tuchel has revealed to the media that a quartet of Chelsea players will be absent for their trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United on Thursday evening, while a further trio will need to be assessed on the day.
All of Mateo Kovacic, Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi are absent through injury, while Ross Barkley is set to miss the trip through illness.
Meanwhile, Antonio Rudiger, who missed games against West Ham and Arsenal in the past week, joined in during training on Tuesday alongside fellow doubt Reece James.
Andreas Christensen is another that the German boss is waiting on, with the Dane suffering from illness, but Tuchel is hopeful that he will be able to take part.
United also down to bare bones
Their opponents, meanwhile, are also down to the bare bones, with Harry Maguire and Jadon Sancho the latest pair to pull up through injury and illness respectively.
They join Fred, Edinson Cavani, Luke Shaw and Paul Pogba on the absentee list, leaving Ralf Rangnick with just 14 senior players to choose from, including former Chelsea veteran duo Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata.
As a result, Chelsea will surely be confident that, despite their slump in form, they should be able to put a weakened Manchester United to the sword, so long as Rudiger and Christensen are both ready to be recalled. The win would further cement their spot in third place, ahead of chasing pair Arsenal and Tottenham.
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