Chelsea should find out on Monday if goalkeeper Petr Cech
will join their absentee list after he limped out of the win at
Blackburn with a hip injury.
Captain John Terry and Didier Drogba are already out because of
injury and other players will be absent in January because of the
African Cup of Nations.
Chelsea can ill afford to lose Cech with deputy Carlo Cudicini also
out for a few days with a rib injury.
"I cannot say it will be easy if we lose Cech," said coach Avram
Grant.
"To play for so long with so many injured for a long time, I don't
like it. But I cannot do anything about it."
Third-choice Hilario, who came on for Cech after an hour against
Blackburn following a collision with Roque Santa Cruz in the 48th
minute, is currently Chelsea's only fully-fit keeper.
"I wanted to take him (Cech) off, but he told me he wanted five
minutes more to see if the injury would improve," Grant
explained.
Portuguese keeper Hilario came on for his first appearance since 13
January and kept a clean sheet as Chelsea won 1-0 through Joe
Cole's first-half goal.
The result means Chelsea remain third at Christmas, six points
behind leaders Arsenal and five behind second-placed Manchester
United.
"It was difficult for Hilario to come into a game like this, but he
did very well, and in the end he made a very good save," Grant
added.
