Benayoun out with ankle injury
Midfielder
Yossi Benayoun, a key ally of under-pressure interim manager Rafael
Benitez, is out of the Barclays Premier League clash with West Brom with
an ankle injury.
Gary Cahill (virus) and Cesar Azpilicueta (leg) are available again after missing the midweek FA Cup win at Middlesbrough.
Oriol Romeu (knee) remains a long-term absentee.
It is possible Benitez's temporary tenure could soon come to a premature end.
There is recent precedent for a change of Blues manager following losses to West Brom.
The
final Premier League matches for Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di
Matteo, Benitez's immediate predecessors, were defeats at The Hawthorns.
After 11 points out of a possible 24, Benitez's Chelsea must improve their form after slipping to fourth in recent weeks.
He
would not consider the prospect of tomorrow's match being his last as
Blues boss, with the FA Cup and Europa League still targets too.
"`If' is not a point for me now," he said.
"I'm quite positive we can get a result, finish in the top three, top two. We will see. That is my feeling.
"Realistically,
it won't be easy. Manchester City are a good team and they have good
players. They can keep winning games and it will be difficult.
"But you never know in football. Top three, top four. That is a target.
"It's very clear still we have a lot of good chances. We will try to do our best in every competition.
"West
Brom will be the first one. After that we'll try to progress in the
Europa League and FA Cup. Every game is important. We want to win every
game."
West Brom could be without their two frontline strikers.
On-loan
Romelu Lukaku is ineligible to face his parent club but forward partner
Shane Long is a doubt with the ankle injury suffered against Sunderland
and has been unable to train so far this week.
Left-back Goran
Popov will complete a three game ban for his red card against Tottenham.
Head coach Steve Clarke has included 16-year-old midfielder Isaiah
Brown, who is still at school, in his squad.
Head coach Steve Clarke insists it is too early to start touting him as a possible successor to Benitez this summer.
But
Clarke, who spent nearly 20 years at Stamford Bridge as player and
coach, concedes it is his ambition to manage "a big club" at some stage
of his career.
Clarke is in his first senior managerial role at
the Hawthorns and has steered Albion into seventh spot in the Barclays
Premier League.
But any ambitions about eventually being in charge of one of the Premier League's leading sides are for the future.
Clarke
said: "I think it's too early to start connecting me with Chelsea.
There are a lot of managers that are out there who have a better case
than me.
"Wherever I am on the bookmakers list is a good indication and I'm sure I'm not in the list at 50-1 even!
"Listen, you've hit me with a question that has come out of left field because I haven't even thought about it.
"I'm not even a year into the job here. Up to now it has been a great season and I haven't looked anywhere beyond that."
Source: DSG
Source: DSG