Chelsea Injury Blow: Trio To Miss Liverpool Trip But Midfielder Set To Return

Chelsea will be without three players for Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup third round tie with Liverpool but Cesc Fabregas is expected to start at Anfield.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was hoping to make his first start under Maurizio Sarri tomorrow night having struggled to secure regular action during the opening weeks of the new season with the likes of Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ross Barkley all ahead of him in the midfield pecking order.

However, the Telegraph are reporting that Loftus-Cheek has been ruled out of the trip to Merseyside after being given a pain-killing injection on a shin injury that has kept him out of the last two games against Cardiff City and West Ham.

The midfielder picked up the problem while away with the England squad during the international break earlier this month and the newspaper suggests Loftus-Cheek is at least another week away from being available for selection.

In a triple blow for Sarri, Antonio Rudiger is also expected to miss the Liverpool game tomorrow after suffering a groin injury during the draw at West Ham on Sunday while Pedro won’t recover from a shoulder problem that he sustained during the Europa League win at PAOK last week.

However, there is some positive news for Chelsea as Fabregas is set to be recalled to the starting eleven after the Spaniard made his return from injury with an appearance off the bench at PAOK.

Injury analyst Ben Dinnery – who works for the likes of ESPN and the Metro – reported on social media:

Rudiger [groin] and Pedro [shoulder] will miss the @Carabao_Cup clash with Liverpool on Wednesday. Fabregas is expected to feature following mins vs POAK in the Europa League but RLC is unlikely to be considered following a setback in training. #CFC

? https://t.co/cckOHhGs0b

— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) September 25, 2018

Sarri is expected to rotate his squad for the Liverpool game on Wednesday night ahead of the second leg of their double-header that will see the Reds head to Stamford Bridge on Saturday for their huge Premier League game.

The likes of Willy Caballero, Victor Moses, Barkley, Davide Zappacosta, Andreas Christensen, Gary Cahill and Alvaro Morata are all pushing for recalls at Anfield tomorrow.