Robert Sanchez will MISS the festive period after knee injury against Everton

Robert Sanchez is set to miss the entire festive period after Chelsea confirmed he and Marc Cucurella will join Reece James in having extended spells on the sidelines.

Goalkeeper Sanchez was forced off with a knee injury at Everton having initially picked up the problem a few days earlier at Manchester United.

Chelsea have yet to put an official timeline on how long goalkeeper Sanchez will be sidelined though sources expect he will be unavailable for around four weeks.

Such a spell out would leave Chelsea without Sanchez until the middle of next month.

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

Sanchez has been Chelsea's No.1 after joining from Brighton in the summer shortly before fellow Spaniard Kepa Arrizabalaga moved to Real Madrid on loan.

Djordje Petrovic, a summer signing from New England Revolution, replaced Sanchez at Goodison Park to make his Chelsea debut and injury to their first-choice stopper will pave the way for the Serbian to be handed an extended run in goal.

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino said: 'When you suffer an injury and lose your No.1 keeper so far, it is a player we are going to miss but we have other players that are working hard to be ready when this type of thing happens. Of course very sad because we are going to lose a player for a few weeks.

'We need to wait and see the situation perfectly with Robert.

'I have faith in all my players and he arrived in Chelsea because we believe he has great potential. He is young and came from different football in the USA but after four, five months working with us it is the moment for him to step up and feel good because we have the confidence and trust in him. Now it is about making his debut at Stamford Bridge and yes we really trust in him that he can perform in the way we want.'

Cucurella will meet foot and ankle specialists to decide on the best course of action for him after he was also forced off at Everton.

Cucurella had an initial scan earlier in the week which was inconclusive due to swelling around the joint and additional assessment was needed once that had reduced. Chelsea hope to have more clarity on Cucurella's situation 'in the coming days.'

Chelsea also lost captain Reece James to another hamstring injury which is set to keep him out long-term.

And Cucurella joining him on the sidelines has increased manager Mauricio Pochettino headaches regarding his full-backs.

Cucurella had emerged as an additional valuable option due to his versatility.

He has been deployed as an emergency right back as well as in his more familiar left-back role.

Chelsea already had issues in the full-back areas before their trip to Goodison Park as they were without their two other established options in right-back Malo Gusto and left-back Ben Chilwell.

Gusto, though, has returned to full training ahead of tomorrow's game against Sheffield United.