Thomas Tuchel has confiremed that Edouard Mendy will not be involved against Aston Villa, having not yet participated in training.
Having started every game of the season preceding the weekend, Mendy was absent from the Chelsea squad to face Tottenham with Kepa Arrizabala starting in goal and Marcus Bettinelli on the bench.
The Senegal international picked up the knock in the Champions League clash with Zenit Saint Petersburg after a heavy hit towards the end of a game.
Since arriving at Chelsea from Rennes last summer, the goalkeeper has not missed back-to-back Premier League matches. But starting against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge in the Carabao Cup is likely a game too soon.
Tuchel did say that he hoped Mendy will return to training ahead of the clash with Dean Smith's side, however.
He said in his pre-Villa press conference: "Mendy cannot play, he was not in training so far. We try to do everything for Saturday and to reintegrate him tomorrow into individual training and Thursday's team training."
However, the doubt is there with Mendy in a race against time to face Manchester City.
Tuchel said: "I think it's possible but it's a race against pain and a race against time. Let's see, I hope he will be back in team training on Thursday and if it goes well, he is ready for Saturday. I don't know right now."
The Blues boss did admit that he will rotate his side to face Aston Villa, meaning the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley will be hoping to start.
"It's a matter of the amount of games and the load of the players," said the Chelsea boss.
"If the question is if we will have some changes, yes we will have. I will not give you the line-up but there will be some changes because we take the opportunity to give important minutes and important competition to guys who have been missing the minutes at the moment."
