The European football champions Chelsea will be without their England defenders Ashley Cole and Gary Cahill for a gruelling programme of five matches in 13 days.
Cole limped off with a hamstring injury in the first half of Tuesday morning's 1-0 FA Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United in London, and Cahill was already ruled out for two weeks because of a knee injury.
Tuesday morning's game was Chelsea's second in less than 48 hours, and in a hectic schedule between now and the 17th of this month they play home and away Europa Cup games against the Russian club Rubin Kazan, a Premier League game against Sunderland, their FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City, and another Premier League game against Fulham.
