Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has admitted that three players are injury concerns ahead of their Champions League tie with Benfica.
The Blues fell to a 3-1 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend, and Moises Caicedo, Andrey Santos, and Joao Pedro all picked up knocks during the game.
The trio will be assessed in training at Cobham later today to determine whether they will be fit to feature against the Portuguese side.
Chelsea head into the fixture looking to bounce back, having already lost their opening Champions League game 3-1 at Bayern Munich.
Maresca provides injury update
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Maresca admitted that injuries remain a big concern for his squad.
“Unfortunately, we have many players out injured,” he said.
“This afternoon, we are going to assess Caicedo, Pedro and Santos. Unfortunately for us, they all have minor problems. We will check if they are available for tomorrow.
“For sure, in this moment we have injuries, but we have a squad to try to replace the injuries we have.”
Maresca also explained that preparing for the game has been made more difficult following Benfica’s recent managerial change.
“It’s a bit more difficult to prepare for this game because they have only played three or four games with Jose [Mourinho],” he added.
“All the games I started watching were with the former manager [Bruno Lage], but I watched three or four games with Jose and some games when he was at Man United, Spurs or Roma.”
The London side will be eager to get off the mark in Group C and secure their first Champions League points of the season.
They face a tough challenge against a Benfica side currently sitting third in the Portuguese league, just one point behind leaders Porto.
