Chelsea should find out on Monday if goalkeeper Petr Cech will join their absentee list after he limped out of the win at Blackburn with a hip injury.Captain John Terry and Didier Drogba are already out because of injury and other players will be absent in January because of the African Cup of Nations.
Chelsea can ill afford to lose Cech with deputy Carlo Cudicini also out for a few days with a rib injury.
"I cannot say it will be easy if we lose Cech," said coach Avram Grant.
"To play for so long with so many injured for a long time, I don't like it. But I cannot do anything about it."
Third-choice Hilario, who came on for Cech after an hour against Blackburn following a collision with Roque Santa Cruz in the 48th minute, is currently Chelsea's only fully-fit keeper.
"I wanted to take him (Cech) off, but he told me he wanted five minutes more to see if the injury would improve," Grant explained.
Portuguese keeper Hilario came on for his first appearance since 13 January and kept a clean sheet as Chelsea won 1-0 through Joe Cole's first-half goal.
The result means Chelsea remain third at Christmas, six points behind leaders Arsenal and five behind second-placed Manchester United.
"It was difficult for Hilario to come into a game like this, but he did very well, and in the end he made a very good save," Grant added.
