Chelsea have reportedly been handed a blow ahead of the EFL Cup final with Benoit Badiashile being ruled out through injury.
On Wednesday evening, the centre-back produced one of his best performances of the season to help the Blues to a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa in their FA Cup fourth-round replay.
The West Londoners were well on their way to a morale-boosting clean sheet when the Frenchman went down injured with just five minutes remaining.
After Badiashile was withdrawn, Villa would go on to score what proved to be a consolation goal, with that strike from Moussa Diaby taking nothing away from what was an impressive Chelsea display.
However, the injury to Badiashile was a low point on an otherwise successful evening and head coach Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged to reporters on Friday that the 22-year-old would be absent against Crystal Palace on Monday night.
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At the time, Pochettino was not in a position to give a potential comeback date for the former Monaco man, who has generally struggled during 2023-24 since making a late start to the campaign due to a hamstring injury.
Just 10 starts and two substitute outings have been made in all competitions, and it now appears that he will not add to those numbers anytime soon.
According to the Evening Standard, Badiashile is likely to miss a month of action with a groin injury.
In the short term, that will see Badiashile sidelined for away Premier League fixtures against Crystal Palace on Monday and the game at Manchester City on Saturday evening.
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Most notably, though, Badiashile will not be available for the EFL Cup final against Liverpool on February 25, with the showpiece occasion at Wembley Stadium representing Chelsea's biggest match of the season to date.
Sitting down in 11th position in the Premier League standings, Chelsea are increasingly likely to require silverware in that competition or the FA Cup to earn a place in Europe for 2023-24.
As it stands, Thiago Silva looks most likely to return to the side to partner Axel Disasi, but Pochettino is hopeful that Levi Colwill and Trevoh Chalobah can come back into contention this week.
Colwill has missed the last four matches with a tendon injury, while Chalobah has not been involved all season due to a thigh problem.
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