It’s time for the first press conferences of the season, and before Enzo Maresca has had a chance to step up, we’ve got Pep Guardiola speaking about Man City, our opposition on Sunday.
Pep revealed some major injury news from their end: the absence of midfield lynchpin Rodri:
“He had zero training sessions with us, he’s not ready,” the City manager explained.
Guardiola also gave the sad news that young talent Oscar Bobb – who has been linked to Chelsea at times this summer, would be out for a significant period too after undergoing surgery.
Former Atletico Madrid man Rodri is key for City’s style of play, and Chelsea will be spending these next few days figuring out how to exploit his absence.
Chelsea given great opportunity by midfielder’s absence
Of course you never want to get Man City on the opening day, when the team is miles away from where we will want it to be down the line. But this is one advantage we’re getting from it. Once Rodri is up to speed he rarely misses a game, but following a long hard Euros campaign with Spain which ended up in an injury, he’s miles behind most players in terms of their readiness for the season.
In players like Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, Man City have some of the best attacking talent in the world. But if we had to pick one player for them to miss for Sunday’s game, it might be Rodri. He’s so fundamental to the way they play, and those attacking players aren’t worth nearly as much if the team behind them isn’t functioning as well as it should.
It’s still going to be a huge ask for Enzo Maresca and his freshly assembled group, but we certainly like our chances significantly now more than we did before this news.