Cesar Azpilicueta played most of last weekend's Crystal Palace match with double cheek fracture

In the 4th minute of Chelsea's 3-0 win over Crystal Palace last weekend, Frazier Campbell accidentally kicked Cesar Azpilicueta in the face.  After a short treatment, the Chelsea left back soldiered on for the full match, helping to keep a clean sheet in a crucial and impressive win.  It turns out he did so with a double cheek fracture.  Trooper.

So, after Gary Cahill and Nemanja Matic, Azpilicueta will become the latest Chelsea player to join the ranks of masked men.  It's a bit of a Chelsea tradition of recent years.

#Chelsea players in the past with mask including #NemanjaMatic the latest player with a mask. #CFC pic.twitter.com/8AhBERYCoI

— Chelsea_Infro (@ChelseaInfro) December 4, 2015

While the fracture isn't bad enough to make Azpilicueta unavailable for Chelsea's next match this weekend, against Scunthorpe United, manager Guus Hiddink could very well use the FA Cup to give the squad's lesser lights like Baba Rahman a run-out instead.

Hiddink will also have centre back Gary Cahill available after the centre back couldn't recover in time to be part of the squad for the Crystal Palace match.