Chelsea Team News & Injury Update: Cahill, Bertrand, Ake & More…

Chelsea are in Moscow ahead of Thursday nights Europa League quarter final second leg clash with Rubin Kazan with the Blues holding a 3-1 advantage from the first leg at Stamford Bridge.

Boss Rafa Benitez has taken a 19-man squad with him to Russia and Chelseafc.com have revealed the latest team news and injury update ahead of the game.

The bad news is that Benitez faces something of an injury crisis at the back with trio Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertrand and Gary Cahill all unavailable through injury. First choice left-back Cole is still recovering from a hamstring injury picked up during the 1-0 win over Manchester United while back-up Bertrand has also been left back in London after being struck down with a virus.

The shortage of options at full-back has forced Benitez to take youngster Nathan Ake with him on the trip although it’s unclear whether he’ll be given a rare start or kept in reserve on the bench.

Centre-back Cahill is also out after failing to recover from a knee problem picked up against West Ham towards the end of March, and he’s stayed back in the UK to continue his rehabilitation.

The clubs official website confirmed there are no other injury worries to contend with and the only other absentee other than long-term injury victim Oriol Romeu is striker Demba Ba, who is once again ineligible having already played in Europe for Newcastle this season.

Now we’ve seen the team news what would be your predicted score for the game? Get involved in the comments section below.