Team news: Man Utd without 7 players for Chelsea trip, Blues confirm injury blow

Chelsea welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge on Monday night in a game that could go a long way to determining who finishes fourth in the Premier League this season. Here is the latest team news ahead of the game….

Chelsea blow

Frank Lampard confirmed to Chelseafc.com today that Christian Pulisic has been training with the U23s as he steps-up his recovery from a hip injury that’s hampered him in recent weeks. However, the American winger won’t be available for selection against Man Utd on Monday.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek has also been working hard at Cobham after recovering from a serious Achilles injury but the midfielder is still short of match fitness so he won’t be in contention to take on United.

Lampard also provided an update on Tammy Abraham and the Chelsea coach confirmed the striker is still feeling the effects of an ankle injury that he initially suffered against Arsenal last month. Abraham will need to be assessed over the weekend before his availability will be determined.

Lampard told Chelseafc.com:

‘Christian trained with the Under-23s today, which will hopefully be for a short period and we’ll factor him back into our training soon but he won’t be fit [for United].

‘Ruben won’t be fit for this game. He’s getting closer, training a lot and he just needs more match fitness to be in consideration but it’s great to have him nearly back.

‘Tammy is still feeling the effects, we’ve had to take him out of training a couple of days this week. He trained today so we’re hopeful but he’ll be assessed over the weekend.’

Otherwise, Chelsea have no fresh injury concerns to contend with as they prepare to welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge so Lampard has a relatively healthy squad to choose from.

United without 7 players

United have plenty of injury problems ahead of the game with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set to be without seven first team players for the trip to west London on Monday night.

New signing Odion Ighalo will travel with the United squad to the capital but Solskjaer refused to confirm whether the striker will be involved against Chelsea. The Nigerian has been training away from the rest of the Man Utd squad since his arrival so he’s unlikely to be in contention to start but he may be named on the bench.

Scott McTominay continued to work on his fitness during the winter break as he bids to return from a knee injury while Axel Tuanzebe and Tim Fosu-Mensah have also stepped-up their rehab recently but the trio won’t be available against Chelsea.

Paul Pogba is still on the sidelines following ankle surgery, Lee Grant is unavailable while Marcus Rashford won’t be seen for several weeks after fracturing his back. Nemanja Matic misses out against his former club due to suspension so United will be without a number of players on Monday night.

Solskjaer told ManUtd.com:

“I never said he [Ighalo] was going to be ready to play on Monday. He’ll be involved with us and he’ll travel down with us and, obviously, now he’s out of that two-week period of precaution and it’s a precaution we’ve made.

“He’ll travel with us and let’s see if he’s involved or not. He’s done his [training programme] and it was always going to be a case of him having to integrate into the group anyway after having been out in China. He needs to get used to the players and the team and up to speed as quick as he can.”

“I don’t think we’ll get anyone back for the Chelsea game. Because Scotty, Axel, Tim, they didn’t join too much so they’re not ready to play that game. And Paul is not ready, of course.

United head to London sitting eighth in the table and six points adrift of Chelsea so an away win on Monday would blow the race for fourth place wide open.