Chelsea have successfully reached the EFL Cup final by beating Middlesbrough and next up, they are set to face Aston Villa in the 4th round of the FA Cup.
The Blues are unbeaten in their previous nine home games and they have lost just one out of their last five matches across all competitions. However, Villa are in prime form right now and they have won their previous 3 matches against Chelsea.
Chelsea are in all sorts of mess this season while, on the other hand, Aston Villa are sitting fourth on the Premier League table and even though Poch’s side will be playing at home on Friday, they are the slight underdogs in this fixture. The London outfit are most likely to miss out on European football via the EPL route so to avoid a disastrous season, Pochettino has to make sure his team win a cup competition like the FA Cup or the EFL.
Chelsea’s team news and injuries:
Pochettino will be without as many as 11 first-team players for the Aston Villa game.
Reece James will be out until April due to a hamstring injury while Marc Cucurella will return sometime next month. Chilwell started in the EFL Cup semi-final but Pochettino has admitted that it will be a really tricky call to hand him another start in the span of just three days.
The Chelsea manager told the press: ‘He is an important player of course, if he is fit and can cope with the 90 minutes. But on Tuesday he could not cope because after 10 or 15 minutes of the second half, he asked to come off because he needs to build his fitness.
‘Now we have doubts to start with him tomorrow because we are assessing him, if he can cope with another game after three days. It is a massive decision because we want to build his confidence and his fitness, to be consistent enough to play the rest of the season.’
The Blues boss will not want to push Ben Chilwell but with so many players out injured, he does not have the luxury to make wholesale rotations.
Roberto Sanchez is closing in on a return but the Villa game will come too early for him which means Petrovic will remain in goal.
Malo Gusto and Nukunku are almost back to full fitness but Friday’s game will come too early for the pair.
Pochettino has updated: ‘They could be available for Liverpool on Wednesday, maybe,’ said Pochettino. ‘We need to see how they progress in the next few days. We are positive but we will see. They are not going to be available for tomorrow.’
Nicolas Jackson has left for the AFCON which means Armando Broja will lead the line on Friday. Chelsea are on the lookout for a new centre-forward this month until then, Pochettino will have to alter between Jackson and Broja.
Raheem Sterling played out on the right wing in their previous match but Pochettino will have to rotate which means Madueke is expected to come in.
Chelsea predicted line up vs Aston Villa:
Predicted Starting XI(4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Chilwell, Colwill, Silva, Disasi; Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Palmer, Sterling/Mudryk, Madueke; Broja.
