Chelsea and Man City could be without 11 key players for FA Cup semi-final clash at Wembley

The mood around Chelsea has certainly improved in recent days after the Blues thumped Everton 6-0 on Monday night. But Saturday evening's FA Cup semi-final tie with Manchester City could be potentially season-defining.

football.london understands Mauricio Pochettino will see his position as head coach reviewed in the summer, as was always the plan. Winning a cup of some description will go a long way in convincing the Chelsea board that Pochettino is the right man to lead the club forward for their ambitious long-term project.

After losing out to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final almost two months ago, Chelsea will be desperate to turn their fortunes around at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. However, the Blues are expected to be without potentially seven key players for the semi-final.

Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku and Lesley Ugochukwu were all "continuing to undergo their rehabilitation programme" in last week's injury update provided by the club. Meanwhile, Robert Sanchez was struggling with an illness and we await to hear the latest diagnosis on the Spanish goalkeeper.

Some good news for Chelsea, though, is that Axel Disasi and Enzo Fernandez have both returned to full training at Cobham this week. The duo missed the Blues' win over Everton on Monday due to minor injuries but are now expected to be named in the squad for the match at Wembley this weekend.

Raheem Sterling is said to have also returned to training, after missing the last game due to an illness. The 29-year-old winger played a key part against his former club Man City the last time the two sides went head-to-head a couple of months ago at the Etihad Stadium, with Sterling scoring the opening goal of the game in Manchester.

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Ben Chilwell returned to action last time out against Everton after missing three matches due to a mixture of injury and illness. Chilwell came on for the final 17 minutes against the Toffees in the resounding victory at Stamford Bridge.

Meanwhile, for Man City, who come into the match as big favourites as they look to retain their FA Cup crown, while they do not have any exact injuries as such, there are a few players that may not make the match at Wembley. Kyle Walker returned from injury to face Real Madrid on Wednesday and the England right-back played the entirety of the 120 minutes in their crushing defeat at the Etihad Stadium.

It remains to be seen whether Pep Guardiola will ask Walker to go again on Saturday but the City boss is known to take a cautious approach with players returning from injury. Manuel Akanji and Kevin De Bruyne were taken off during the extra-time period in the match with Real Madrid, while Erling Haaland was replaced before the additional 30 minutes in Manchester.

"Erling and Kevin asked me to go out, like Manu [Akanji], they could not continue," Guardiola said after City's Champions League quarter-final exit. "The game we were playing they were amazing and I am not a big fan of making a lot of substitutions but Kevin, Erling and Manu asked me to go out."