Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino could be working around as many as five defensive absentees for Sunday's EFL Cup final with Liverpool at Wembley Stadium.

The Blues are guaranteed to be missing Wesley Fofana (knee), Benoit Badiashile (groin) and Reece James (thigh), while Thiago Silva (groin) and Marc Cucurella (ankle) are due to rejoin partial team training in the coming hours but are not certain to return.

None of Carney Chukwuemeka (ankle), Romeo Lavia or Lesley Ugochukwu - the latter two nursing thigh damage - will be available either, but first-choice goalkeeper Robert Sanchez has now recovered from a knee injury and is at Pochettino's disposal again.

The Spaniard sat out the draw with Man City due to a personal issue, but with Djordje Petrovic holding the fort well in his absence, Pochettino may hold back on reintroducing Sanchez into the first XI right away.

After quelling the rampant Citizens attack for most of their Etihad encounter, the Blues boss should see no need to tinker with his defensive wall of Malo Gusto, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi and Levi Colwill, allegedly a summer transfer target for Liverpool.

A former transfer target for the Reds - Moises Caicedo - will join fellow nine-figure midfielder Enzo Fernandez in a recognisable engine room, while Conor Gallagher should keep Christopher Nkunku at bay to start in a more advanced area.

Set to compete in his fifth EFL Cup final, ex-Liverpool protege Raheem Sterling joins top scorer Cole Palmer on the flanks, and the duo ought to be supplying Nicolas Jackson on the Wembley soil.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell; Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Gallagher, Sterling; Jackson

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