Thibaut Courtois will not be available for selection against Manchester City on Sunday after the Football Association upheld the red card he received against Swansea on the opening day of the season.
An Independent Regulatory Commission heard Chelsea’s appeal on Tuesday, but the Premier League champion’s efforts to overturn Michael Oliver’s decision was unsuccessful and Courtois will now have to sit out against arguably their closest title rivals.
The Belgium international was shown a straight red card midway through the second half of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Swansea after denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity when he brought down Bafetimbi Gomis.
Summer signing Asmir Begovic is now expected to deputise in Courtois’ absence for the biggest game of the campaign so far.
Chelsea fans may understandably be anxious going into the weekends clash at the Etihad, but they can rest assure that in Begovic they still have a top quality goalkeeper. In fact, prior to the start of this season, only Simon Mignolet (439) has made more saves than Begovic (379) in the last four Premier League campaigns.
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