Mateo Kovacic absent due to knee injury when Chelsea host Tottenham

Mateo Kovacic will miss Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Tottenham on Sunday due to a niggling knee injury.

The Croatia midfielder has carried the issue for some time and was an unused substitute in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Everton.

Marcos Alonso will not feature either, with the Spain wing-back attempting to finalise his transfer to Barcelona.

Spurs will be boosted by the availability of summer signing Richarlison, who sat out their opening-day victory over Southampton due to suspension.

The Brazilian was hit with a one-match ban for throwing a smoke flare into the Goodison Park crowd after he scored the winner against Chelsea for old club Everton in May.

While Richarlison is set to be named on the bench by boss Antonio Conte, the Italian will be without Clement Lenglet (thigh) and Oliver Skipp (heel).

Chelsea provisional squad: Mendy, Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Silva, Koulibaly, James, Kante, Jorginho, Cucurella, Mount, Sterling, Havertz, Chalobah, Chilwell, Chukwuemeka, Loftus-Cheek, Gallagher, Ziyech, Pulisic, Broja.

Tottenham provisional squad: Lloris, Forster, Austin, Doherty, Emerson, Spence, Dier, Romero, Sanchez, Tanganga, Davies, Perisic, Sessegnon, Bissouma, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Sarr, White, Kulusevski, Gil, Moura, Son, Kane, Richarlison.

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