Robert Sanchez will MISS the festive period after picking up a knee injury against Everton – with the untested Djordje Petrovic set to deputise for the Spaniard as Chelsea face more injury woes

Robert Sanchez will miss the entire festive period after Chelsea confirmed he and Marc Cucurella will join Reece James for extended spells on the sidelines.

Goalkeeper Sánchez was forced off with a knee injury at Everton after picking up the problem at Manchester United a few days earlier.

Chelsea have not yet set an official timeline on how long goalkeeper Sánchez will be sidelined, although sources expect him to be unavailable for around four weeks.

Such an elimination would leave Chelsea without Sánchez until the middle of next month.

They have six games before hosting Fulham on January 13, five of which are in the Premier League plus the FA Cup tie against Preston.

Sánchez limped off in the final ten minutes of Chelsea's 2-0 defeat to Everton last Sunday

Sánchez was Chelsea's No. 1 after joining from Brighton in the summer, shortly before compatriot Kepa Arrizabalaga moved to Real Madrid on loan.

Djordje Petrovic, a summer signing from New England Revolution, replaced Sánchez at Goodison Park and made his Chelsea debut. An injury to their first choice will pave the way for the Serbian to have a longer run of goals.

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino said: 'If you get injured and lose your number one goalkeeper so far, it is a player we are going to miss, but we have other players who work hard to be ready when things like this happen. Of course very sad because we are going to lose a player for a few weeks.

'We have to wait and review the situation with Robert.

'I have confidence in all my players and he has come to Chelsea because we believe he has great potential. He is young and comes from other football in the US, but after working with us for four, five months, this is the time for him to take a step further and feel good because we have the confidence in him to have. Now it's about making his debut at Stamford Bridge and yes, we really trust that he can perform the way we want him to.”

Cucurella will meet with foot and ankle specialists to decide the best course of action for him after also being forced out of Everton.

Cucurella had an initial scan earlier this week, which was inconclusive due to swelling around the joint and required additional assessment once that had been taken. Chelsea hopes to get more clarity about Cucurella's situation 'in the coming days'.

Chelsea also lost captain Reece James to a new hamstring injury that will keep him out long-term.

And Cucurella joining him on the touchline has manager Mauricio Pochettino worried about his wing-backs.

Djordje Petrovic – a summer signing from New England Revolution – is expected to be the alternate

Reece James and Marc Cucurella also left, adding to Chelsea's long list of absentees

Cucurella had proven to be an extra valuable option because of its versatility.

He has been deployed as an emergency right back, but also in his more familiar role as a left back.

Chelsea were already struggling at full-backs before their trip to Goodison Park, missing their other two established options, right-back Malo Gusto and left-back Ben Chilwell.

However, Gusto is back in full training for tomorrow's match against Sheffield United.