Another injury blow for Chelsea forward Nkunku

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Christopher Nkunku will miss Chelsea’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Middlesbrough because of a hip problem.

Nkunku, signed from RB Leipzig in a £52m deal in the summer, has endured a wretched debut season with the Blues after missing the first four months of the campaign with a knee injury he sustained on the club’s US summer tour.



The 26-year-old made an instant impact in his first Premier League appearance when he came off the bench to score in the 2-1 defeat at Wolves on Christmas Eve.

He started in the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace and was involved in the 3-2 victory at Luton, but missed Saturday’s FA Cup third-round win over Preston at Stamford Bridge

“It is not related to his injury – a different problem with his hip. No he won’t be involved tomorrow or on Saturday but we are going to be cautious with him,” said boss Mauricio Pochettino.

“But it’s not a big issue.”

Ben Chilwell, Benoit Badiashile and Carney Chukwuemeka will also sit out the trip to the Riverside Stadium as they continue to build up their fitness following injury lay-offs.

Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez is still a long way from a return. He will have scans this week to determine his recovery from a knee injury.

“It will be the same squad for tomorrow as we had on Saturday,” Pochettino confirmed.