Chelsea players Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all suffered injuries in training on Monday, revealed Thomas Tuchel.
The London side scraped past Southampton and into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, drawing 1-1 with Southampton before winning 4-3 on penalties.
Tuchel revealed after the match that his team selection was impacted after three players who suffered injuries a day before in training.
Azpilicueta has a shoulder problem, while Christensen has been forced into minor surgery on a tooth issue and Loftus-Cheek injured his hip.
None of the problems are believed to be serious and all players could be back in contention for Chelsea’s Premier League trip to Newcastle.
‘We hope Azpi is back for the weekend. He had a shoulder injury yesterday in training when he fell on it. It’s very painful but he’s Azpi and he’s a tough guy,’ said Tuchel after the game.
‘Ruben felt after training some pain in his hip joint. Hopefully we can handle it for Saturday.
‘Andreas needed to recover from tooth surgery and he should be back in training on Thursday if there are no complications.’
Despite the injuries, along with the existing fitness issues of Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Pulisic, Tuchel was able to name a strong team against Southampton.
Kai Havertz led the line and scored for Chelsea just before the break, although Che Adams cancelled it out in the second half.
The game went straight to penalties, with Theo Walcott missing for the Saints before Mason Mount failed from the spot for Chelsea.
Will Smallbone then missed his penalty for the Saints, allowing Reece James to score the winning penalty for Chelsea.
