As always, one topic dominated Chelsea’s pre-match press conference ahead of the Monday night game in the Premier League against Everton – injuries.
Just as we seemed to be getting out of the woods, we’ve been plunged back into their darkest depths over the last 10 days.
Levi Colwill’s seemingly minor injury is now keeping him out game after game, Ben Chilwell’s international fatigue has ended up costing him 3 matches and counting, plus today’s injury report added Enzo Fernandez and Axel Disasi, previously reliable stalwarts of Mauricio Pochettino’s selection, to the list of wounded.
Pochettino’s response was typically vague in telling us what’s actually happened to them, but he confessed neither has trained since last weekend’s draw with Sheffield United:
“We will see. They are under assessment. They have different type of issues. We don’t believe they are big issues but we will see if they can be available,” Pochettino said.
“At the moment, they have not trained after Sheffield. We do not know if they can be involved or not for Monday.”
So they’re not definitely out, but given they would only have tomorrow and a light session on Sunday to train, it’s not looking great.
Monday’s threadbare team
Once again, we’re back into tricky territory when trying to work out who is going to play. Chilwell, Enzo and Disasi all sound very doubtful, with a role off the bench at best looking most likely. There are options at centre back, but central midfield remains a wasteland if Enzo misses out. Conor Gallagher and Moises Caicedo are certain to play, probably in a pair with Cole Palmer slotting in to replace Enzo and either Raheem Sterling (who has been ill), Mykhailo Mudryk or Noni Madueke playing on the wing in Palmer’s stead.
With Chilwell and Colwill out, Marc Cucurella is guaranteed another start at left back.