Ralph Hasenhuttl's hopes for a winning end to the season were dealt a blow when he admitted that he will again be missing defenders for the journey up to London.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has confirmed that both Yoshida and Jannik Vestergaard will again be missing for the trip to the London Stadium and that for Vestergaard the season is over.
"Maya is not able to play,” the Austrian said in his pre-match press conference "Jannik Vestergaard’s season is over, he has a small issue.
"We will change the team a little like we did in the last game; we have a few players who have shown that they want to play and start from the beginning. "
"It’s not necessary to rotate five or six players just because we are safe but for one or two, they will look at this match and the final game as a chance to get in the starting eleven.”
In better news Hasenhuttl was pleased to say that both Mario Lemina and Stuart Armstrong are back to full fitness and could feature.
"The rest are okay, we have no other injured players. Lemina is an option for the weekend and Armstrong too, who didn’t play from the beginning against Bournemouth. It’s not an easy decision for me so let’s have a look.”
The main issue though is the centre of defence, where yet again shoddy defending cost us points last Saturday against Bournemouth, Hasenhuttl is a bit strapped for options here even if he stays with a back four as he started the game against The Cherries.
Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek are the only two fit experienced central defenders and unless the Austrian truly takes a gamble he has no one else who could step in.