football.london reported earlier that Chelsea manager Graham Potter could be missing four players for the trip to Selhurst Park this weekend as Crystal Palace awaits.
The Blues players have all returned from international duties as certain stars are now keen to impress the new manager in his first Premier League game in charge.
Potter has only been around for a short time but unexpected cancellations due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the impact that has had on the footballing world has meant that the RB Salzburg draw, 23 days ago, was his only time in the Blues dugout.
Fixtures against Fulham and Liverpool were cancelled, giving Potter and his new coaching team time to work with the squad on the training pitches but it is now crunch time with the west Londoners facing a heavy fixture schedule from now till the start of the FIFA World Cup in November.
READ MORE: Patrick Vieira praises Todd Boehly for Graham Potter decision ahead of Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
Therefore, maximising the squad depth and rotation of the squad will prove pivotal if the English manager was to see his career under this new ownership start on the right foot. Unfortunately, at the start of this lengthy run, Potter is already missing four players due to a mixture of illnesses and injury concerns.
They're absolutely fine in terms of coming through their rehab stages. NG [Kante] has just been on the grass with the team but not full training," he said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
"Eddie [Mendy] is a bit further on but hasn't had enough to be involved at the weekend really. Maybe next week for him."
The two illness concerns come with full-back Marc Cucurella and young midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka meaning that Ben Chilwell and one of Conor Gallagher or Ruben Loftus-Cheek could feature depending on the formation.
He added: "A bit of illness for Marc Cucurella and Carney, apart from that everybody is fit."
For their opponents Crystal Palace, they will have players returning from injury but three remain sidelined for this fixture and one of the trio will not be Wilfried Zaha who played during the international break within Europe for his national side Ivory Coast.
“They all came back in good shape. But we still have players such as Nathan Ferguson, Macca [James McArthur] and Jack Butland who are still out," Patrick Vieira said in his own press conference.
With all this injury news taken into consideration, a total of seven players or even more could be missing when the team news is released at 2 PM on Saturday afternoon.
Chelsea fans - with all the injury and illness information taken into account, what formation do you want to see Graham Potter use for this fixture? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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