Mauricio Pochettino delivers mixed Chelsea injury update ahead of Manchester City game

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has delivered a mixed Chelsea injury update ahead of Saturday's Premier League fixture at Manchester City.

The Blues make the daunting trip to the Etihad Stadium having recently prevailed in away fixtures against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace respectively, each by 3-1 scorelines.

However, preceding that, Chelsea were comprehensively outplayed by Liverpool at Anfield, before they conceded four times for the second game in succession against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Pochettino has recently suffered injury blows to some key defenders, with Benoit Badiashile out until March with a groin injury and Thiago Silva having joined him on the sidelines with a similar issue.

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After the game with Palace on Monday, there were also fitness concerns over Malo Gusto and Levi Colwill, the former being fatigued and the latter having picked up a knock on his first appearance in five games.

While Gusto and Colwill have been declared available for the meeting with City, Silva has been ruled out, as has Carney Chukwuemeka.

Speaking to reporters, the Argentine said: "Minor injury (for Silva), but he is out for tomorrow. After that, we need to assess him day by day."

"Carney Chukwuemeka twisted his ankle two days ago and he is out."

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On a more positive note, Pochettino declared that goalkeeper Robert Sanchez would be back in the squad after being sidelined for over two months with a knee injury.

He added: "Robert Sanchez is available, which is good news. It is good to recover a player that was playing a lot. To be available again is a good thing for the team.

"It is very good to be back. You never know in football what can happen, it is better to have all the player available as soon as possible and be ready to play if we decide to choose them."

Although Djordje Petrovic has made 14 starts in the Spaniard's place, Pochettino did not rule out Sanchez making an immediate return to the starting lineup.