Chelsea without seven players for daunting Manchester City task

PREMIER LEAGUE Chelsea without seven players for daunting Manchester City task

Kiplagat Sang 17:06 - 19.05.2023

The injury-hit Blues will face treble-chasing Citizens on Sunday.

Chelsea have a lengthy injury list and will be without seven players for their trip to face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Benoit Badiashile – who scored his first goal for the club against Bournemouth - since signing in January, is the latest to be sidelined with a groin problem.

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The 33-year-old forward retired from international duty in May 2022, leaving behind a remarkable record as his country's all-time leading goal scorer, with 28 goals in 68 appearances.

"We're pretty much similar to where we have been recently. Mason [Mount], Reece [James], Chilly [Ben Chilwell], N'Golo [Kante], and Marc Cucurella are not fit," Lampard revealed during his pre-match conference.

"Kouli [Kalidou Koulibaly] has been training this week but is not ready for a game like this. He is ahead of schedule, to be fair. Benoit injured his groin in training two days ago and will miss the game. We are assessing that as we speak."

The Blues’ caretaker manager, however, did not comment on Mateo Kovacic. The Croatian limped off in the first half during their match against Nottingham Forest with what looked like a muscular injury and is yet to be pictured in training.

City are a win away from retaining the Premier League title, and Chelsea face the task of slowing down their match for another trophy.

Lampard refused to call Pep Guardiola’s team the greatest team the Premier League has ever witnessed.

"I don't know about the greatest. I think that's a hard debate," Lampard said about their next opponents.

"But I think they're clearly a fantastic team. They have been for a good while now, so a huge credit to that consistency."

The Citizens progressed to the Champions League final after seeing off Real Madrid and are also in the hunt for FA Cup glory.