Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has suggested that Hakim Ziyech and Andreas Christensen are unlikely to feature against Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
While a number of Chelsea's coronavirus-affected players are expected to return in the West Midlands, Ziyech and Christensen have recently been sidelined by calf and back injuries respectively.
Although it has previously been claimed that the duo will not spend a prolonged period out of the squad, Tuchel has hinted that the meeting on Sunday will come too soon.
Tuchel is quoted by football.london as saying: "For Hakim I don't know, it's very painful. He got a kick and it's very painful so not a lot of time until Aston Villa.
"Andreas got an injection and is also very painful in the lower back. So bad news that we've struggled with the same things for several days now and of course we want to be competitive at the same time.
"Not easy but we try to stay positive and arrive at Aston Villa with full commitment to the competitions."
Chelsea will head into the game sitting nine points adrift of top spot if Premier League leaders Manchester City defeat Leicester City earlier in the day.
Darren Plant
