It was very frustrating to have Mauricio Pochettino’s press conference take place on Thursday, given Chelsea don’t play until tonight.
It means that we have very out of date information on the injury situation of several players, and likely won’t find out until the flash interview with the Chelsea boss before kick off – and even then, it might not be until we see the team lineups that we can draw some conclusions.
Football.London noted that Carney Chukwuemeka was training out on the grass with the rest of the team, although we can’t imagine he will be ready for anything more than a brief cameo off the bench at best.
Pochettino is desperate for the midfielder to return to open op some options both for rotation and tactically in midfield.
His explanation of why he switched his side to a back 5 against Brentford reveals how concerned he is with those issues:
“It was to provide the team a different way to play,” Pochettino explained of his tactical change.
“We needed to provide the midfield the possibility not to cover too much distance. I think Enzo, Caicedo and Gallagher had to start but were really, really tired. A player like [Romeo] Lavia is supposed to challenge Moises, but they are injured and we don’t have the possibility to refresh in a key area.”
As soon as Carney is back, expect him to start taking minutes off the knackered Gallagher and Caicedo immediately.
I think our main problem is Coaching staff rather than prayer’s injuries. In my opinion, the coacher must go and leave us