Graham Potter has confirmed that Kalidou Koulibaly misses Chelsea's match with Manchester United due to injury. The Blues' head coach revealed the central defender felt an issue with his knee against Brentford and today comes too soon for him to play again.
Koulibaly has started four out of the last five Blues matches, with Potter's resources stretched due to the long-term injuries suffered by Wesley Fofana and Reece James. Against the Red Devils, Chelsea line up with Trevoh Chalobah, Thiago Silva and Marcu Cucurella. The last time Cucurella started in the back three, he was replaced by Koulibaly at halftime.
Potter is hopeful that Koulibaly will not be out long and noted that the three other changes to his Chelsea lineup are as part of the rotation and managing workload during a busy time of the season.
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Chelsea's head coach said: "He just felt his knee at the back end of the game against Brentford. It's not too bad but it's too soon for him to play in this game.
"We lost Koulibaly, so we can't play him, and then we've got a couple of players returning who recovered against Brentford. Thiago couldn't play in the week.
"So it's a case of managing the load and managing the games and picking a team that can be competitive and hopefully win the game."
Chelsea XI : Kepa; Chalobah, Silva, Cucurella; Azpilicueta, Loftus-Cheek, Jorginho, Cucurella, Mount Aubameyang, Sterling..
Substitutes: Mendy; Zakaria, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Kovacic; Pulisic, Ziyech, Broja, Havertz
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