Chelsea could welcome back goalkeeper Edouard Mendy for their back-to-back clashes with Manchester City.
2023 begins with a Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge between the sides on Thursday, before City welcome Chelsea to the Etihad just three days later in the FA Cup third round. While City are looking to return to winning ways after a frustrating draw against Everton, Chelsea are also out of form having been held at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Mendy has not featured since he was on the losing side in Senegal's World Cup last-16 clash with England, missing Chelsea's win over Bournemouth and then the Forest draw. However, manager Graham Potter has said he expects Mendy to be available against City this week.
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Speaking before their trip to Forest, when teammate Hakim Ziyech was also a doubt but returned to the bench, Potter said: "Both of those guys [Kovacic and Ziyech] will be back. Mendy we are not sure, we’ll have to see in the next few days. He has a problem with his bone [around his shoulder] that he picked up at the World Cup. He may still need a bit of time."
Defender Reece James will miss out after his return from injury saw him suffer a setback, but Wesley Fofana may be available for consideration in the coming days after a slight setback of his own.
Speaking just before Christmas, Potter said of Fofana: ''Wesley had a little setback, which can sometimes happen at the very last stage of rehab, so he will be [out for] a couple of weeks."
Likewise, Ruben Loftus-Cheek may be close to action having been out since November, as Potter said last month: ''Ruben is doing some work in the gym so we’re hopeful that he can be involved next week but we’ll see how he goes.''
As well as James, Chelsea will be without N'Golo Kante, Ben Chilwell and Armando Broja, who are all nursing longer-term injuries.
City have Ruben Dias absent with a hamstring injury, while Aymeric Laporte missed the Everton draw.
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