Xabi Alonso has confirmed that a key Chelsea attacker will be missing for “weeks” and he doesn’t “want to predict” the exact period he’ll be out for.

The Blues have been in good goalscoring form this season, with their 17 Premier League goals the third best in the division currently. Five of those have been scored by Joao Pedro, who also has three assists.

But the Brazilian missed the visit of Tottenham at the weekend, and Chelsea were beaten 2-0.

The Blues managed only one shot on target in the loss.

And they might feel the absence of Pedro for a while longer, as manager Alonso has confirmed the striker will be missing for a while.

He said: “Yes, he has an injury on his thigh and he is going to be out for a few weeks.

“Let’s see how many, we don’t want to predict on that.

“He is a key player. We will miss him, but we will have to be ready to deal with the injury and to be competitive and to try to win games with the players that we have available.

“We are starting tomorrow against Liverpool, a cup game. This is the situation. We are ready to fight for it and ready to prove that we can show the level.”

Two big attackers missing against Liverpool

Cole Palmer has joined Pedro on the absentees list for the League Cup game against Liverpool on Wednesday.

The Blues man was sent off after picking up two yellow cards against Tottenham. The first of which saw him push his body into the head of Mateus Fernandes.

For the second yellow, Palmer stood on the boot of Conor Gallagher.

The two big absences up top will change the Liverpool squad somewhat.

Indeed, Palmer scored twice as he was introduced off the bench against Leeds in the last round, and there’s a chance he’d have started against higher opposition in the next game.

Pedro’s absence might not be the biggest issue for the League Cup, where Danny Welbeck scored a brace in the last round after starting up top.