Chelsea injury news as Mauricio Pochettino gets several late scares ahead of hosting Arsenal on Saturday
Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk
Chelsea have an injury concern with Mykhailo Mudryk
Things just do not get any easier for Mauricio Pochettino as he prepares what is left of his Chelsea side to take on Arsenal. The Gunners visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday and it poses as the biggest test for Pochettino since taking over and the international break hasn’t helped him so far.
In what he had hoped would be a two week period of rest and recovery for those of his squad that were left out of their country’s plans, Pochettino was banking on welcoming back several first team players, taking momentum into a tough run of fixtures. Chelsea are three games unbeaten now under their new boss, the best run since he arrived and the first time they’ve won three in a row since March.
The break hasn’t gone to plan so far though with more and more players returning back to Cobham as the days go on. This is far from ideal even if it does mean getting more time on the training ground because they are only adding to the already large mountain of injury doubts and selection doubts.
Most recently it has been Cole Palmer to come back from England Under-21 duty, he started the 9-1 win over Serbia on Thursday but picked up a knock during the first half and was replaced by Tino Livramento during the break. “I think Cole would be fine, but we don’t take any chances with any of the players,” said Lee Carsley, explaining that Palmer had a dead leg.
“If there is a slight doubt that they’re going to miss a game at the weekend, we get them back to the clubs as quickly as we can. We could’ve kept Cole here another day and see how it was, but we didn’t think it was right. Everyone else is fine, a few colds and sniffles.”
It looks like Palmer may well be in line to recover before the visit of Arsenal but after his stellar start to life in Chelsea blue it is one that fans will be monitoring closely. Unfortunately for some of his teammates, Palmer is not the first to come back early.
Nicolas Jackson and Armando Broja were both selected for their nations respectively but have withdrawn from the camp. Albania coach Sylvinho explained: “As for Broja, I have to give bad news. He was with the team for only two days.
“After consulting with our doctors and Chelsea’s, he can’t make it, he won’t be ready for tomorrow. We have other players to evaluate.” Broja had come back into the side after nine months out with a damaging knee injury so any new worry will be of even more concern for Chelsea currently.
As for Jackson, he went away with Senegal but has withdrawn due to having a minor operation on his wrist. He has worn strapping on his right hand in the past two games but football.london understands that it isn’t expected to keep him out of upcoming matches.
Axel Disasi also found himself struggling and had to take himself out of France contention after being called up as a replacement defender. He picked up a blow to his quadriceps in the win over Burnley but is hopeful of overcoming the issue in time to continue his 100% appearance record in the side.
There have been worries occurring during the break so far as well that haven’t lead to recalls or withdrawals too. Mykhailo Mudryk was taken off late in Ukraine’s 2-0 win over North Macedonia with his side just one goal up. It happened moments after he had received treatment on the field, sparking concerns over his his fitness.
Ukraine are in action on Tuesday and that looks like the next chance to assess his readiness. Mudryk had been left out of the starting line-up at Turf Moor after being a half-time substitute away to Fulham. He picked up a small knock there which has only heightened the worry around him.
Outside of that there are two hopeful returns for Arsenal with Reece James getting closer and closer. It was thought that had he not been suspended for the win over Burnley that he might have been involved, however football.london has learnt that James is not a certainty to feature against Arsenal and will need to be looked at before the game.
Benoit Badiashile is back in team training and is eyeing up a first appearance of the season. The clash with Arsenal looks to come a bit soon for him but the coming weeks are more realistic whilst Carney Chukwuemeka is available for selection once more. Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Christopher Nkunku and Ben Chilwell are all sidelined for the foreseeable future along with Romeo Lavia.