Josh Acheampong and Alejandro Garnacho will return to the Chelsea starting lineup when they take on Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.
Chelsea will be desperate to return to winning ways and overturn a three-game losing run when they lock horns with Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday evening. Liam Rosenior has a new issue to worry about ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Trevoh Chalobah is the latest absentee after sustaining an ankle injury earlier this week in the UEFA Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain. The English international accompanies Filip Jorgensen (groin), Levi Colwill (knee), and Reece James (hamstring) in the treatment room.
Additionally, Mykhailo Mudryk continues to serve a suspension after failing a doping test several months ago. However, Malo Gusto (illness), Jamie Gittens (thigh), and Benoit Badiashile (illness) face late fitness tests to determine their availability. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Rosenior provided fitness updates on Chalobah, James, Jorgensen, and Colwill.
The Chelsea head coach said, “It wasn’t until after the game that I saw the image [of the tackle] and then you’re really worried for the next day. Obviously, it’s never good that Trevoh is out for any period of time, but fortunately, it’s not as serious as we first feared. It’s still a serious injury but we’re looking at a period of six weeks, which is disappointing but from where we were a couple of days ago, straight after the game, we are in a better place than we thought.”
“Unfortunately, Filip had his scan and needed a minor operation. Nothing too serious again, it’s a matter of weeks. With Reece, we’re going to look more after the international break. It’s not serious, but there is something in his hamstring [scan] and it’s something we’ll monitor after the international break.”
“With an ACL [recovery], he [Colwill] is hitting all the benchmarks he needs to, but we need to keep making sure he is going past certain levels. It’s brilliant to have his presence back on the training pitch, and while we want to see him back out there on the pitch as soon as possible, it has to be within the right timeframe. He’s still looking at a good while [before returning to first-team action] yet. Hopefully, that can be this season, which would be a massive boost.”
Robert Sanchez is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Chelsea lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him against Everton on Saturday. The backline will feature Josh Acheampong, Mamadou Sarr, Wesley Fofana, and Marc Cucurella.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Moises Caicedo and Andrey Santos in the double pivot, with Enzo Fernandez reprising the no. 10 role. Finally, Joao Pedro will lead the line for the away side against Everton, with Alejandro Garnacho and Cole Palmer being the two wide attackers.
Predicted Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Acheampong, Sarr, Fofana, Cucurella; Caicedo, Santos; Palmer, Fernandez, Garnacho; Pedro
