Chelsea suffer major injury blow as Thibaut Courtois ruled out of EFL Cup semi-final showdown with Arsenal

Simon Johnson24 January 2018

Chelsea have been handed a major blow with the news that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is set to be ruled out of the match at Arsenal on Wednesday evening.

The Belgium international is still troubled by the ankle injury sustained during training last week.

It was hoped Courtois would be able to return for the second leg of the EFL Cup semi-final at Emirates Stadium having sat out the 4-0 win over Brighton.

Courtois returned to training with the first-team squad on Monday, but it is understood he is still feeling pain and Antonio Conte doesn't want to take the risk.

It means backup keeper Willy Caballero, who joined as a free agent from Manchester City in the summer, looks certain to start his third game in a row.

The 36-year-old made some fine saves in the past two matches, however has looked vulnerable from crosses and was fortunate not to concede a penalty when he appeared to trip Brighton's Ezequiel Schelotto on Saturday.

Chelsea are already without Alvaro Morata due to a back problem and Cesc Fabregas because of a hamstring strain.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in