Duo Left Behind As 22-Man Chelsea Squad Flies-Out Ahead Of Maribor Clash

Jose Mourinho has flown out to Slovenia this afternoon with a 22-man squad ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Maribor on Wednesday night.

The Blues players were put through their paces at Chelsea’s Cobham training base on Tuesday morning for their final session before travelling to Slovenia this afternoon.

Diego Costa was on board the plane despite struggling with a niggling hamstring injury in recent weeks while Cesar Azpilicueta returns to the squad after serving a three-game domestic suspension.

However, there were two main absentees in the 22-man party with Loic Remy and John Obi Mikel both left back in London nursing knocks.

Remy has missed the last three games with a groin injury he picked up scoring the opener during Chelsea’s 6-0 win over Maribor at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago and Mourinho doesn’t expect the French striker to be available again until after the upcoming international break.

Mikel missed Saturday’s 2-1 win over West London rivals Queens Park Rangers with a minor knee injury and although he wont feature tomorrow night, he could return to face Liverpool this weekend.

Here is a full list of the 22-man squad as announced on Chelseafc.com this afternoon:

Petr Cech
Thibaut Courtois
Mitchell Beeney
Branislav Ivanovic
Filipe Luis
Cesc Fabregas
Kurt Zouma
Nathan Ake
Ramires
Oscar
Eden Hazard
Didier Drogba
Andre Schurrle
Mohamed Salah
Diego Costa
Nemanja Matic
Willian
Gary Cahill
John Terry
Cesar Azpilicueta
Andreas Christensen
Lewis Baker

Jose Mourinho is expected to make some changes to his starting eleven with Saturday’s big clash against Liverpool in mind, with the likes of Thibaut Courtois, John Terry and Diego Costa likely to be rested and Petr Cech, Kurt Zouma and Didier Drogba all in-line for run-outs.