Despite picking up another yellow card and earning himself a two-match suspension, Jorginho will be available for tomorrow’s match against Liverpool. Apparently these disciplinary measures are competition-specific these days, even within England, so Jorginho’s ban only applies in the Premier League. It does mean however that he will miss Chelsea’s next three games after this one, serving his two-match ban against Everton and Aston Villa in the league, then his one-match ban in the Champions League against Bayern in the second leg.
With Lampard making it clear that he’s not taking this match lightly at all, Jorginho’s availability is probably good news.
But that’s just about where the good news stops. N’Golo Kanté, Christian Pulisic, and now Tammy Abraham all remain out without a solid prognosis or timeline for their returns. Stray rumors in France recently claimed that Kanté could be back by the weekend, but that seems a bit hopeful. Meanwhile Pulisic’s adductor remains most annoying and Abraham’s ankle remains mystery.
To add to all that, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek may or may not be available for their own fitness reasons (CHO still injured, RLC maybe to play with the U23s the day before instead). But since this exercise is about whom you would like to see starting on Tuesday, let’s leave them in there with a question mark.
Lampard has strongly suggested to the fifth stand app that Loftus-Cheek will play in #CFC’s development squad game against Everton on Monday night rather than the FA Cup tie with Liverpool 24 hours later.
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) February 29, 2020