• Premier League

Cech ruled out for eight to 10 weeks

Petr Cech came off injured at Atletico Madrid © Getty Images

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Petr Cech could be facing a fight to remain Chelsea's No.1 goalkeeper after undergoing successful surgery on his shoulder injury that will keep him out of action for eight to 10 weeks.

The 31-year-old dislocated his shoulder in the Champions League semi-final first leg draw against Atletico Madrid and had been widely expected to miss the rest of the campaign, despite appearing for a training session ahead of the second leg with the Spanish side.

Mark Schwarzer will continue in goal for the final match of the season against Cardiff on Sunday.

With Cech potentially unavailable until late July and the new Premier League season beginning in early August, his starting place could be under threat as Jose Mourinho is reportedly ready to make Thibaut Courtois, who has excelled on loan at Atletico for the last three seasons, his new first-choice goalkeeper in the coming campaign.

Courtois has yet to confirm whether he will return to play for his parent club next season, but Mourinho appeared to prepare the way for a possible switch in the wake of Chelsea's 3-1 second leg defeat to Atletico.

Mourinho pointed to Courtois' "impossible" save from a John Terry header, shortly before Atletico scored their second goal in their 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge, as the reason Chelsea went out of the competition.

Jose Mourinho had to hold back his assistant Rui Faria during Chelsea's 2-1 defeat to Sunderland © Getty Images

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Meanwhile, Mourinho will today find out whether his appeal against his FA charge, following comments made about the officials in Chelsea's 2-1 home defeat to Sunderland, has been successful.

He demanded a hearing after denying questioning the integrity of official Mike Dean and referees' chief Mike Riley.

The Chelsea manager sarcastically "congratulated" the pair after the defeat, which ended his run of 77-unbeaten league games at Stamford Bridge and dented his side's title challenge. In March, Mourinho had been fined for entering the field of play at the end of Chelsea's 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.

In a unique disciplinary case, a hearing took place at Wembley on Wednesday with Mourinho opting not to appear personally. It is believed Chelsea provided sufficient paperwork in support of their manager to delay the verdict by a day.

Chelsea have also received written reasons for assistant coach Rui Faria's six-match stadium ban after his furious altercation with the officials and have another day to decide whether to appeal the sanction.

Faria admitted a charge of using insulting or abusive language to fourth official Phil Dowd after Sunderland were given a late match-winning penalty. He also admitted a charge of improper conduct after he had to be held back by Mourinho during a heated exchange with Dowd where he refused to leave the technical area after being sent to the stands.

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