Chelsea set to assess injured duo

Chelsea are unsure how long Petr Cech and David Luiz may be out injured.

Goalkeeper Cech missed the FA Cup game at Brentford with what interim manager Rafael Benitez described as a “niggle” and Luiz was unavailable after suffering a recurrence of an ankle problem.

Benitez explained: “We will have to see how they both progress.

“Petr has a niggle and we need to check it. With David, it depends. He [Luiz] was doing well so hopefully he will be fine. We don’t know.”

The 2-2 draw with the Bees means Chelsea face a fourth-round replay at Stamford Bridge and Benitez believes the amount of games they are involved in is testing his squad.

“The negative thing is that we are using some players for too many games,” he said.

“After the Africa Cup of Nations we will have two more players and we can manage it better.

“You can see some players are playing 90 minutes all the time and it is not easy.”

Benitez added: “It’s important to do well in every competition. The top four is the priority. The FA Cup is a massive competition and we will try to do our best again.”

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