Chelsea Team & Injury News Update: Cech, Luiz, Terry & More…

Chelsea are at the Madejski Stadium on Wednesday night to face Reading and interim boss Rafa Benitez has given an injury and team news update for the game.

Speaking at his press conference this afternoon, Benitez told Chelsea’s official website the latest on defender David Luiz and goalkeeper Petr Cech, as well as giving his thoughts on the state of his squad at present.

The bad news is that Cech has failed a late fitness test and will miss the Reading clash. The Czech stopper missed Sunday’s FA Cup game with Brentford with a calf injury and although he took part in light training on Tuesday, it was decided he wasn’t fit enough to face the Royals but could return to play against Newcastle at the weekend.

Luiz will also miss Wednesday nights action with an ankle injury that has troubled him over the past two weeks. Here is what Benitez told ChelseaFC.com.

‘We were testing Cech today, he was training, but it was a light session and we decided not to take a risk. David Luiz is working hard and we will see in four or five days how he feels.’

The absence of Cech means Ross Turnbull will continue in goal and Benitez is confident his number two will settle into first team football after only making his fifth start of the season at the weekend. He continued:

‘When you are not playing too many games it is always more difficult so it is a question of him [Turnbull] settling down. He is training well and it is fine.’

Captain John Terry returned from a long injury lay-off on Sunday and the Chelsea boss was pleased his skipper was able to come through the game despite the difficult conditions. The Spaniard also praised some of his players who’ve had to play in unfamiliar positions or start a lot of games recently as the Blues squad has become a little stretched in recent weeks.

‘The pitch at Brentford was quite heavy for a player like John Terry who was coming back from injury and he was doing a great job too.’

‘Ryan Bertrand played the other day as a winger and he is not a winger, but he was doing a great effort for the team. There are players playing every game like Ramires and Lampard, and I am really pleased with them. Ashley Cole has to play all the time and he is doing a great job.’ Benitez is quoted as saying by Chelseafc.com

We’ll have a full match preview up on the site on Wednesday morning but for now, what would your starting line-up be for the game? Leave your suggestions in the comments section.