Enzo, Caicedo, Ugochukwu: Pochettino confirms Chelsea team news for Crystal Palace

Mauricio Pochettino has offered an update on the availability of Chelsea’s midfielders ahead of their Premier League clash against Crystal Palace.

Chelsea are looking to bounce back from their disappointing 2-1 defeat to Wolves on Christmas Eve.

Pochettino’s Blues now find themselves in the bottom half of the Premier League and will be desperate to put things right against their city counterparts on Wednesday night in west London.

The likes of Robert Sanchez, Reece James and Marc Cucurella have been sidelined due to injury in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Christopher Nkunku has returned and scored his first goal for the club in the defeat to Wolves.

However, both Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo missed the match versus Wolves due to illness. Lesley Ugochukwu was also forced off during the defeat due to a hamstring problem.

Pochettino provided clarity on their availability against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night at Stamford Bridge.

Enzo Fernandez

“No, Enzo no (he won’t be available).”

Moises Caicedo

“Moi, hopefully yes. (Sunday) he was better, yesterday (Saturday) he was a possibility – but it’s a high fever. I hope he can train a little bit and be ready for Palace.”

Lesley Ugochukwu

“With Lesley, we will assess him (on Monday), but I think he felt his hamstring again. I said in the press conference it is important how we reintroduce players, but we were forced because of the problem with Moises to play Lesley.

“It’s a difficult situation because now he’s a player we’re going to miss, we hope not for too much (time). We need all of the players.”

Pochettino expressed his frustration with the injury problems his side have had to deal with, particularly with the need to pick up positive results week in week out.

The Chelsea head coach concluded: “Yes I think that it’s really frustrating, the disappointment is there. We are working really hard, I promise. We all work so hard; the medical staff and the performance staff are working really hard to try and anticipate and avoid these types of problems. But sometimes it’s a sacrifice, sometimes it’s bad luck.

“Sometimes situations aren’t the same for a 19-or-20-year-old guy arriving from France, like in Lesley’s case, but we expect him to play and perform for Chelsea in the Premier League. That’s why it’s important not to put too much pressure on, but it’s something we need to think about in the future.”