Through the long and boring international break we were all looking forward to Enzo Maresca’s press conference to bring us a wave of news to report on.
Sadly, it’s proved to be mostly bad news. As well as negative updates about Cole Palmer, who has had a setback in his recovery from an ongoing groin problem the coach also announced new issues for other players in the squad.
Three first team regulars added to injury list
Maresca said that three first team regulars had missed training yesterday and were being given fitness tests to see if they could train today:
“We have Moi [Caicedo], Enzo [Fernandez], Pedro [Neto], they didn’t take part in the session yesterday, and we’ll see if they can train today, otherwise they’re going to be out.”
It’s a huge shame – after being run into the ground in recent weeks, Caicedo had been given a break by Ecuador in this international period, but clearly has hurt himself anyway. Enzo was released from Argentina duty early with knee inflammation, while Pedro Neto played twice for Portugal and clearly has hurt himself too.
In the worst case, with all three out, we could be seeing some interesting combinations in midfield – perhaps a Romeo Lavia, Andrey Santos double pivot with Facundo Buonanotte ahead of them.
We suspected Estevao wouldn’t start tomorrow given he’s been in Asia with Brazil, but if Neto is out then options are really becoming limited for Maresca.
In other news…
In the same press conference, Benoit Badiashile was ruled out until December with another injury. Thankfully, there are other options available at the back for the Blues.
Badiashile isn’t the only piece of bad injury news from today’s presser. Maresca also dropped the hammer blow news that Cole Palmer is set to miss six further weeks with his ongoing groin problem.
