Simon Johnson of the Athletic is always close to the ground on the Chelsea beat, and he’s picked up some great exclusive injury news this week after a tough international break for the team.
One key man who we were hoping to get back was Antonio Rudiger. The defender has been out of action since last season, barring one premature return against Wolves. It was hoped he’d be back this weekend, and while he is training at full force now, he will apparently need more match practice before Frank Lampard is prepared to pick him.
some #cfc team news ahead of #nufc. @TheAthleticUK understands #Rudiger won't feature. He is fit again but club want to work on match fitness before he returns as he has missed so much football since April. Likely to play in development squad games coming up…
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) October 16, 2019
#Christensen has had a scan on a hamstring injury and is unlikely to feature. #Kante is doubtful too – has minor groin problem. #Kovacic suffered minor leg injury playing for Croatia but hope is he will be okay. #Emerson set to return for #cfc against Ajax next week.
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) October 16, 2019
It’s a shame he’s not back, but not surprising. Hopefully by next week he will be ready to go. The fact that Andreas Christensen, who has been filling in for Rudiger, is also a doubt, is more worrying.
Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori are the only remaining pair at the back, and should anything happen to one of them before Rudiger is back, we might really be in trouble.
