Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino may want to be working round as many as 5 shielding absentees for Sunday’s EFL Cup ultimate with Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.
The Blues are guaranteed to be lacking Wesley Fofana (knee), Benoit Badiashile (groin) and Reece James (thigh), whilst Thiago Silva (groin) and Marc Cucurella (ankle) are due to rejoin partial group training in the coming hours but are no longer sure to return.
None of Carney Chukwuemeka (ankle), Romeo Lavia or Lesley Ugochukwu – the latter two nursing thigh injury – will be accessible either, however first-choice goalkeeper Robert Sanchez has now recovered from a knee harm and is at Pochettino’s disposal again.
The Spaniard sat out the draw with Man City due to a personal issue, however with Djordje Petrovic retaining the citadel well in his absence, Pochettino may additionally keep lower back on reintroducing Sanchez into the first XI right away.
After quelling the rampant Citizens assault for most of their Etihad encounter, the Blues boss have to see no want to tinker with his defensive wall of Malo Gusto, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi and Levi Colwill, allegedly a summer transfer target for Liverpool.
A former transfer goal for the Reds – Moises Caicedo – will join fellow nine-figure midfielder Enzo Fernandez in a recognisable engine room, while Conor Gallagher have to preserve Christopher Nkunku at bay to begin in a greater advanced area.
Set to compete in his fifth EFL Cup final, ex-Liverpool protege Raheem Sterling joins top scorer Cole Palmer on the flanks, and the duo ought to be imparting Nicolas Jackson on the Wembley soil.
Chelsea feasible starting lineup:
Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Gallagher, Sterling; Jackson
Liverpool supervisor Jurgen Klopp ought to doubtlessly be without a full XI of infirm gamers for Sunday’s EFL Cup final towards Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.
The Reds are guaranteed to be without eight damage victims in the capital, where none of Alisson Becker (hamstring), Trent Alexander-Arnold (knee), Ben Doak (knee), Stefan Bajcetic (calf), Joel Matip (ACL), Diogo Jota (knee), Thiago Alcantara (muscle) or Curtis Jones (shin) will be at the manager’s disposal.
In addition, Dominik Szoboszlai (thigh), Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez – the latter two of whom sat out the midweek win over Luton Town after experiencing pain versus Brentford remaining weekend – will require late fitness checks over the weekend to determine their availability.
While many uncertainties in attack remain, the Reds’ rearguard options itself, as Caoimhin Kelleher – scorer of Liverpool’s last penalty in opposition to Chelsea in the 2021-22 showpiece – guards the posts in Alisson’s place.
Fresh from turning into Liverpool’s highest-scoring Premier League defender at Anfield, Virgil van Dijk leads his group out as captain, while Ibrahima Konate have to displace Jarell Quansah to be part of the Dutchman.
Another alteration at the lower back ought to see Andrew Robertson relieve Joe Gomez of his left-back duties, but Conor Bradley – who scored one and set up every other in January’s 4-1 crushing of Chelsea – will maintain his place on the opposite side.
Wataru Endo and Alexis Mac Allister show up to be guaranteed starters in the middle, and if Szoboszlai does certainly fail a late health test, Ryan Gravenberch should entire the Liverpool trident.
The Reds’ health issues up the front ought to have no affect on Luis Diaz’s place on the flank, while Cody Gakpo already has four EFL Cup strikes to his name this time period and will be the first choose to deputise for Nunez.
With Salah absent against Luton, Harvey Elliott – on his a hundredth appearance for the Reds – capped off a record-breaking performance with a first-class intention at the end, and the 20-year-old has carried out all he can to play his way into the first XI.
Liverpool feasible starting lineup:
Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Endo, Mac Allister; Elliott, Gakpo, Diaz
