Four first-team members of Chelsea have been ruled out of the match against Manchester United on Thursday night by Frank Lampard.
Mason Mount, Benoit Badiashile, Ben Chilwell, and Reece James will not be going to Old Trafford.
N'Golo Kante, Marc Cucurella, and Mateo Kovacic are among the other players who have lately missed games; however, Joao Felix is back in the lineup after sitting out Sunday's 1-0 loss at Manchester City.
With the exception of Felix, Lampard indicated that his team will essentially be the same as it was at the Etihad Stadium, Armando Broja and Marcus Bettinelli appear to be out of the game as well.
"There are no returning players,” said Lampard at his pre-match press conference. “Mason, Reece and Chilly won’t make the game. Benoit Badiashile we know is out.
“We are as we were. Joao Felix had a small injury at the weekend, and he is involved.”
Since joining the Londoners from Monaco in January, Badiashile has excelled in a challenging season, but the young Frenchman is expected to miss a significant amount of time due to a groin injury, according to sources.
"It's a big blow for him and I am disappointed for him too,” added Frank.
“He is going to be a big player for this club. It is an unfortunate, complicated injury. It is months rather than weeks.
“I hope for him that the timing of it over the summer means he won’t miss many games.”
Alvaro Morata was the last Chelsea player to score a league-winning goal against United in November 2017, and the last five games between the teams in the top division have ended evenly.
Erik ten Hag and Frank Lampard are facing off against one another for the third time this season, with the Dutchman winning the first two meetings.
At Goodison Park in October, United defeated Lampard's Everton 2-1. We also eliminated the Toffees from the Emirates FA Cup at the start of this year, just before they parted ways with the former England international.
As for United Erik Ten Hag claimed there are no fresh injuries, but rather a major boost with Marcus Rashford's return to training.
"It looks like [it]. Yesterday he returned in training and he looks quite fit but we have to see today what the outcome is from the training, how did he recover. Then we will make our choices.''
Man United needs a point from their next two games to secure a place in Europe alongside Man City, Arsenal and Newcastle United, Erik Ten Hag is fired up to ensure that happens.
''We want to compete with the best and then you have to be in the Champions League. In the Premier League you have to qualify yourself to be in the top four and that is not easy because there are many [clubs] competing for it. Many think they should be in and so yeah, we are one of them.''
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