Chelsea drop triple early team news hint before Preston with Raheem Sterling dilemma

Some of Chelsea's players have hinted at their possible involvement in the FA Cup third round tie against Preston on Saturday as Mauricio Pochettino's side look to keep their strong domstic cup record going. The Blues already have a Carabao Cup semi-final to look forward to but are aiming to win this trophy for the first time since 2018.

It is a competition that the club has a long history with, but memories in recent years have been plagued by a trio of consecutive final defeats as well as a painful third round exit at the hands of Manchester City last year. Pochettino himself has never won the trophy but did get to back-to-back semi-finals with Tottenham in 2017 and 2018.

The task this year is much simpler due to a poor league position. Chelsea have an easier route into any form of European football via the domestic cups than they do the table right now and fans are desperate for something to remember this season with.

Having gone strong against Championship opposition Blackburn in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, Pochettino has promised to do so again here. «Not too many changes,» he said of his team selection on Friday. «Playing with the circumstances of course, not going to change too much the team.

»You will see maybe one or two, players normally not in the starting XI but of course because we have some circumstance we need to prevent and we need to anticipate problems. We take like a Premier League game, it's not because it's the FA Cup and a Championship team."

With a spate of injuries to his squad, there is a chance for some of Cobham's brighest talents to get a run out here too, but it is the senior crop dropping subtle messages online before the game. After being benched against Luton following a suspension