EPL: Chelsea face 5-man injury crisis ahead of Liverpool clash

Chelsea travel to Anfield this weekend in the midst of a full-blown injury crisis, leaving interim head coach Calum McFarlane without a single natural winger fit for the clash.

Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho are both sidelined with muscular knocks, while Jamie Gittens and Estevao Willian have been ruled out with hamstring injuries.

The situation worsened on Monday afternoon when youngster Jesse Derry was stretchered off with a head injury during his Premier League debut against Nottingham Forest.

While Cole Palmer is fit and capable of operating on the right, there is a question mark over the opposite flank.

McFarlane, who is desperate to snap a miserable six-match losing streak in the Premier League, admitted he will have to get creative with his tactics on Saturday.

"We've still got a lot of good players, still got a lot of players available that can impact football games," The Blues boss said.

"So, we're going to have to make up some of the players we're missing in different ways, in the way that we shape the team up, but I probably don't want to go into too much detail on that right now."

Chelsea haven't tasted a league victory in over two months, and despite the injury-ravaged squad, McFarlane is hoping an unorthodox setup can spark a shock result against Liverpool and provide the catalyst for a strong end to a bruising campaign.