Updated: August 14, 2009, 3:52 PM UK Five missing for Blues
Chelsea are without a number of players for their opening Barclays Premier League clash with Hull at Stamford Bridge.
New signing Yuri Zhirkov is out with a knee injury, while Juliano Belletti (Achilles) and defender Alex (groin) are also set to miss out.
Joe Cole (knee) and Paulo Ferreira (knee) are back in training but the fixture comes too soon for the pair.
New Blues coach Carlo Ancelotti insists the Premier League title will be tougher to win than the Serie A crown.
The Italian guided AC Milan to Serie A success in 2004 but the quality of the opposition in the English top flight promises to provide him with a lot more obstacles.
Ancelotti will take charge of his first match when City arrive in the lunchtime kick-off.
Ancelotti remains unbeaten since taking over from interim coach Guus Hiddink but the pre-season niceties will be dispensed when the real action gets under way.
Chelsea will face a gritty Hull side who will be determined to go one better than the goalless draw they achieved at the Bridge last season.
That competitive spirit inside the Premier League caught out former boss Luiz Felipe Scolari to such an extent that he was sacked last February.
Ancelotti insists he is "not stepping into the dark'' as he prepares for his first game in the English league and is equally realistic when it comes to his appraisal of the task that lies ahead.
"This is my first season outside Italy so it is a bit different, but I want to do well with my team,'' said Ancelotti. "I am happy, not afraid. There's no tension or pressure.
"It is new but not the unknown. I'm not in the dark. I know my team very well. I appreciate the squad over the month I've had here, and the quality of this team.
"The ambition is to remain competitive until the end of the season in all the competitions - in the FA Cup, the Premiership and the Champions League.
"We want to arrive well in March and April in all the competitions. If we have strength and the right mental attitude, we can win at the end.
"In England the championship is more competitive because, in Italy, three or four teams can win. Here I think that more teams can win the league.
"To win a season in England is not easy for any team. It's not easy for Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United, and also for Arsenal.
"To win here is very difficult. It's a difficult start. We'll have to overcome difficulties in every game.
"We have to work to improve because the situation on the pitch has to be natural. Now it's not natural because some things are new for the players.
"But, with work, it will become automatic. We have to put continuity into the games. That wasn't the case in the last game - some periods of the game were very good, others not. We need to put continuity on the pitch.''
Hull manager Phil Brown could hand debuts to all four summer signings .
Stephen Hunt and Kamel Ghilas will go straight into the squad having completed four-year deals this week and could be joined by fellow new boys Seyi Olofinjana and Jozy Altidore.
Missing for the Tigers are knee-injury victims Ian Ashbee, Jimmy Bullard and Richard Garcia, but goalkeeper Boaz Myhill is fit again after recovering from a thumb complaint.
