Levi Colwill faces a race against time to be ready to represent Chelsea against Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth-round replay on Wednesday.
Chelsea will hope to book a spot in the FA Cup fifth round when they lock horns with Aston Villa at Villa Park in a fourth-round replay on Wednesday night. And Mauricio Pochettino does not have any new issues to deal with ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Question marks remain around Levi Colwill’s fitness situation. With Pochettino not providing a fitness update on the young Englishman during his pre-match press conference, his availability for the midweek FA Cup fixture remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, Robert Sanchez (knee), Reece James (hamstring), Wesley Fofana (knee), Marc Cucurella (ankle), Trevoh Chalobah (hamstring), Romeo Lavia (thigh), and Lesley Ugochukwu (hamstring) remain on the sidelines.
But Chalobah, Sanchez, and Fofana should soon be available to Pochettino. Meanwhile, the Chelsea boss shared his feelings ahead of Wednesday’s fixture instead of providing any team news update during his presser.
He said, “It’s true that we played well in the game here at Stamford Bridge. After that, there have been different circumstances – and we will have one day fewer to prepare the game, as they played on Saturday and we played on Sunday.”
“So, the circumstances we arrive to the game in are completely different, but that is football. We cannot change the past, only we can affect the future. We have talked to the players today about being ready to compete tomorrow. We are going to pay attention to situations that happened in the last two games for them and for us.”
Djordje Petrovic should continue to deputise for Robert Sanchez between the sticks. Chelsea will line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him, with Malo Gusto, Axel Disasi, Benoit Badiashile, and Ben Chilwell forming the backline. Badiashile will replace Silva as Disasi’s central defensive partner.
As for the midfield unit, Carney Chukwuemeka should replace the underperforming Moises Caicedo. The youngster will join Enzo Fernandez in the double pivot, with the duo looking to keep things tight in the middle of the park.
Meanwhile, Conor Gallagher will likely drop to the bench, with Christopher Nkunku reprising the no. 10 role. Nkunku will clear the spot up front for Nicolas Jackson, who will lead the line for Chelsea against Aston Villa. Finally, Mykhailo Mudryk and Cole Palmer should complete the numbers in the offensive unit, with Raheem Sterling missing out.
Predicted Chelsea XI: Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Badiashile, Chilwell; Chukwuemeka, Fernandez; Palmer, Nkunku, Mudryk; Jackson
