Higuain absent from Chelsea traveling squad for Dynamo Kiev Europa League Round of 16 second leg

Chelsea’s away trips in the Europa League so far this season have involved rather bare-bones traveling squads, with the team taking the opportunity to rest key players during trips to Greece (PAOK), Belarus (BATE), and Hungary (Vidi FC) in the group stage, as well as in the first knockout round against Malmo, when Marcos Alonso was dropped and Ruben Loftus-Cheek had to stay behind through injury.

No such shenanigans for tomorrow’s Round of 16 second leg against Dynamo Kiev however, with Sarri taking as strong a team as possible. The only absence is a forced one, as Gonzalo Higuain has apparently been struck down by a fever.

“He had a fever after the league match for two days. Yesterday in the evening with the doctor we decided to leave him at home in order to recover him for the next match.”

The rest of the 21-man traveling squad is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Arrizabalaga, Caballero, Bulka

DEFENDERS: Rudiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Alonso, Emerson, Zappacosta, Ampadu

MIDFIELDERS: Jorginho, Kante, Barkley, Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek

ATTACKERS: Hudson-Odoi, Hazard, Pedro, Willian, Giroud

With Chelsea holding a 3-0 first leg lead, surely just about any reasonable combination of these name should (“should”) be able to finish the job. Higuain’s absence probably not a big deal in any case since Giroud, who’s the team’s leading goalscorer in Europe this season with six goals, was going to start anyway.