Chelsea travel to Liverpool with Robert Sánchez ruled out, Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho looking unlikely, and only a partial lift from the return of Reece James and Levi Colwill to full training. Calum McFarlane confirmed that Sánchez is unavailable after the injury he sustained in the Nottingham Forest game, while Neto and Garnacho are both carrying knocks. That leaves Chelsea short-handed for a trip to a Liverpool side sitting fourth in the league.

Chelsea's absences dominate the team news

McFarlane did not dress it up. “Neto and Garnacho are carrying knocks, so it's looking unlikely that they are going to be available [against Liverpool],” he said. He also made clear that “Rob [Sanchez] is also not going to be available after the injury that he sustained in the Nottingham Forest game.”

Sánchez has made 33 Premier League appearances this season, so this is not a case of Chelsea losing a fringe goalkeeper. He has been their most-used league keeper, and his absence matters even more with the club already chasing a cleaner run of results.

There was also a rougher moment in the Forest game that underlines how much has gone against them. Sánchez was forced off after a head-on-head collision with Morgan Gibbs-White and needed stitches to head wounds. Jesse Derry was stretchered off and taken to hospital after a clash of heads with Zach Abbott on his top-flight debut. McFarlane said the early signs on Derry are positive, but he will not be available between now and the end of the season.

James and Colwill offer some relief

The one bit of good news is that Reece James and Levi Colwill have both trained fully for a week. McFarlane said they were looking promising, and that at least gives Chelsea a chance to add some balance back into the side before facing Liverpool.

That does not make the situation straightforward. Chelsea go into the match on a run of six successive Premier League defeats, and their last five league results are all losses. They are 9th in the Premier League, while Liverpool are 4th, so this is already a difficult assignment before the injury list is even counted.

McFarlane’s point about needing to reshape the team is the key one. “We've still got a lot of players available that can impact football games. We're going to have to make up some of those players we're missing in different ways in the way we shape the team up,” he said.

That is the reality for Chelsea at Anfield. They are not only missing bodies, they are missing the kind of players who usually define how they can set up. If James and Colwill are ready to play, that softens the blow. If Neto and Garnacho are still out, Chelsea’s margin for error gets even smaller.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →