Chelsea travel to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday, looking to get back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats to Brighton.
The Blues were knocked out of the FA Cup by the Seagulls and lost to them again in their last top-flight match to put pressure on boss Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea’s Italian head coach will be without Noni Madueke for the televised trip to Villa Park after the winger picked up a hamstring problem.
Nicolas Jackson, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Omari Kellyman are all also ruled out for the west Londoners via injury.
Mykhailo Mudryk remains suspended but right-back Malo Gusto is available for selection following his recent knock against Brighton.
With Jackson injured, Christopher Nkunku looks set to continue as Chelsea’s main striker despite some pundits calling for him to be dropped.
Cole Palmer will be keen to get himself on the scoresheet against Villa having gone four Premier League games without a single goal or assist.
Despite a drop in form, Palmer remains Chelsea’s most important attacking player, having registered 14 goals and six assists across 25 top-flight games so far this season.
Chelsea are sixth in the Premier League table heading into Gameweek 26, four points head of ninth-placed Villa, although it should be noted that Unai Emery’s side have played an extra match.
Villa took a point off Premier League leaders Liverpool in their last Premier League fixture, which ended in a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night.
Three Villa players – Ezri Konsa, Leon Bailey, and Ross Barkley – are all expected to return for the home clash against Chelsea.
The showdown in the Midlands will come too soon for Amadou Onana, Emery has confirmed, while Axel Disasi is unable to play against his parent club due to his loan agreement.
Marcus Rashford, who joined Villa on loan from Manchester United in the January transfer window, is expected to be named in Villa’s XI.
Jadon Sancho, one of the Chelsea players who has been urged to ‘step up to the plate’ ahead of the clash with Villa, is likely to start for the visitors.
Jörgensen, Gusto, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Fernández, Neto, Palmer, Sancho, Nkunku
Martínez, García, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen, McGinn, Tielemans, Rogers, Asensio, Rashford, Watkins
Aston Villa vs Chelsea kicks off at 5.30pm UK time on Saturday, February 22.
The match is being shown live on TV in the UK via Sky Sports Premier League, while you can live steam the game with NOW.
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