England defender unlikely now to play in the cup semi with City.
Chelsea head coach Rafa Benitez confirmed that the West London club will now be without the services of key defender Ashley Cole for “at least two weeks” after the full back picked up a hamstring injury in the club’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United in their FA Cup quarter-final replay at Stamford Bridge on Monday afternoon.
The England international sustained the problem early in the first half and was immediately replaced by understudy Ryan Bertrand for the remainder of the tie, although after the match had ended, the Spaniard confirmed the Blues’ worst fears.
“This kind of injury at least two weeks. That means for us maybe 20 games or something,” Benitez said ironically of Cole’s injury in his post-match press conference.
And that means that the left back is unlikely to be fit enough to take part in Chelsea’s cup semi-final showdown with Manchester City at Wembley in less than two weeks’ time, while Benitez also stated that injured centre-back Gary Cahill would still not be back in action for “another 15 days at least”.
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