Chelsea gritted out a narrow 1-0 victory over Benfica midweek, keeping a clean sheet for just the third time all season — all three at home — as Enzo Maresca cobbled together a mostly-fit lineup amid a growing injury crisis.
Repeating that against Liverpool this weekend will be a lot tougher, one imagines, even as (or perhaps precisely because) Liverpool come in with back-to-back one-goal defeats (to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray). Our injury situation has not improved in the few days since Benfica,
and if anything, someone like Benoît Badiashile may find it difficult to recover given that he had just returned to match action.
Others facing fitness tests include João Pedro, who was left off the Brazil squad due to some “physical problems” and Wesley Fofana, who’s been in concussion protocol for the past week. Cole Palmer, Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Dário Essugo, Liam Delap, and Levi Colwill have been ruled out.
Also, Trevoh Chalobah is suspended after his sending-off against Brighton last weekend.
