Mauricio Pochettino rules two Chelsea stars out of the Palace game

Ahead of their London derby against Crystal Palace, Chelsea could be missing as many as 11 players because of injuries and suspension.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has ruled Enzo Fernandez and Lesley Ugochukwu out of the Crystal Palace match on Wednesday.

Fernandez remains injured after missing last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Wolves. Ugochukwu did play at Molineux, but he had to leave the pitch during the second half. The pair’s absences hand Pochettino another selection headache. The Argentine might be without nine players due to injury and illness. Two other stars – Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling – are suspended.

The only sidelined player who may return to face Palace is Moises Caicedo, who missed the trip to Wolves due to an illness.

“No, Enzo, no. But Mo, hopefully, yes. But he has a high fever,” Pochettino said when asked for an update on his injured players.

“I hope that tomorrow he can train a little bit and be ready for Palace.

“With Lesley, we will assess him 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.”