Chelsea will be without Mykhailo Mudryk for Thursday night’s Conference League meeting with Shamrock Rovers after the winger tested positive for a banned substance.

Mudryk insists he has never knowingly taken any banned substance and vowed to prove his innocence, but the Ukrainian has been provisionally suspended from football while awaiting the results of a ‘B’ sample after an “adverse finding in a routine urine test”.

The 23-year-old has been a regular in the Conference League this season, starting each of the first four group matches before missing last week’s trip to Astana.

Chelsea have already qualified for the last 16 having won all five of their group matches so far and Enzo Maresca is likely to rotate heavily for the visit of the Irish side ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Everton.

Youngster Josh Acheampong should get another opportunity to impress at right-back after finally putting pen to paper on a new long-term contract on Wednesday, while fellow academy graduate Tyrique George will hope for more involvement, off the bench at least.

Cesare Casadei is available again after serving a one-match suspension against Astana. Marc Cucurella is suspended for Sunday’s Everton game but it remains to be seen whether Maresca uses that as reason to start the Spaniard on Thursday.

Predicted Chelsea XI: Jorgensen; Acheampong, Tosin, Disasi, Veiga; Casadei, Dewsbury-Hall; Neto, Nkunku, Felix; Guiu

Injured: James, Fofana, Badiashile

Doubts: Joao Felix, Chukwuemeka, Chilwell

Suspended: Mudryk

Time and date: 8pm GMT on Thursday December 19, 2024

Venue: Stamford Bridge

TV channel: TNT Sports