Man City game too soon for Alex return

Fernando Torres, David Luiz, Michael Essien and Florent Malouda are all likely to start Chelsea’s Barclays Premier League game against Manchester City on Sunday.

The quartet either came off the bench or were not involved in Wednesday night’s Champions League last-16 second leg against FC Copenhagen.

Sunday’s match comes to soon for Alex, who is on the brink of making his long-awaited comeback from a knee injury, while Yossi Benayoun (Achilles) will also have to wait until after the international break to return, having only resumed full training yesterday.

Provisional squad: Cech, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Ramires, McEachran, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Torres, Drogba, Turnbull.