Chelsea XI vs Liverpool: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup and injury latest for Premier League

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Evening Standard

·7 May 2026

Chelsea XI vs Liverpool: Confirmed team news, predicted lineup and injury latest for Premier League

Managerless Blues likely to be without six players for Anfield trip amid dreadful losing run

Chelsea will be without Robert Sanchez and Jesse Derry when they face Liverpool, with Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho also expected to miss Saturday’s trip to Anfield.

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Sanchez received treatment and was substituted in the second half of Monday’s 3-1 home defeat by Nottingham Forest following a head-on-head collision with Morgan Gibbs-White.

The goalkeeper’s withdrawal, as Filip Jorgensen replaced him, was not logged as a concussion substitution but he has still needed to undergo concussion protocols checks with Chelsea’s medical staff this week.

He shared a photograph of himself on the night following the game with a deep cut to his head that required stitches.

Wingers Neto and Garnacho were both absent against Forest due to knocks sustained in training last Sunday.

On Thursday, interim Chelsea head coach Calum McFarlane was asked to provide updates on the trio.

“Neto and Garnacho are carrying knocks, so it’s looking unlikely that they are going to be available [against Liverpool],” McFarlane said.

Opportunity: Filip Jorgensen should start in goal for Chelsea against Liverpool with Robert Sanchez out

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“Rob [Sanchez] is also not going to be available after the injury that he sustained in the Nottingham Forest game.”

Sanchez’s absence means it will likely be Jorgensen who starts in goal for Chelsea at Anfield.

With Neto and Garnacho expected to miss out once more and academy star Derry unable to play again this season following his own head clash against Forest that saw him stretchered off and taken to hospital, McFarlane is without any fit and available wingers with Estevao and Jamie Gittens also both sidelined.

That means he may have no choice against Liverpool but to deploy Joao Pedro as an auxiliary left-sided winger, with Enzo Fernandez in the attacking midfield role and Cole Palmer on the right. Liam Delap could then start up front.

There could be a return to action following six weeks out for Chelsea captain Reece James. He returned to the bench against Forest after recovering from a hamstring injury and could be drafted in on Merseyside.

Malo Gusto was given a difficult afternoon on Monday and could drop out if James is selected to start at right-back, but it remains to be seen whether the skipper will be risked from the off.

Levi Colwill had missed the entirety of the campaign so far due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained during Chelsea’s first pre-season training session, but he made a substitute appearance against Forest and is now pushing for a starting place.

He could line up next to Trevoh Chalobah to add pace to a backline tasked with keeping Liverpool’s attack quiet.

McFarlane may select Romeo Lavia once again as Moises Caicedo’s midfield partner in order to try and contain Liverpool, who are looking to seal Champions League qualification for next season.

Predicted Chelsea XI (4-2-3-1): Jorgensen; Gusto, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo; Palmer, Fernandez, Joao Pedro; Delap