It’s been a poor first half from Chelsea at the Vitality Stadium, and things have got even more gloomy with the sight of another injury.
Liam Delap was given the nod to start as the number 9 today, with backing from his coach before the game that the goals were going to come soon for the forward. He made some nice runs and gave away some fouls, as is his wont. But he won’t even make it to half time.
A heavy fall after leaping to try and reach a corner looked to injure his shoulder – it could be dislocated, or even a broken collarbone. Either way, in the worst case scenario this is a few weeks out for the former Ipswich man.
That’s the last thing he needs after missing two months of the season with a hamstring injury.
Maresca decision shows what he thinks of Guiu and Joao Pedro’s standing right now
Another interesting factor in all this is that it was Marc Guiu who came on to replace Delap rather than Joao Pedro.
We all know that JP sees himself more as a number 10, but we were still expecting him to be our second choice number 9 after Delap. He certainly was for a large chunk of the season while Delap was out. This decision shows just how far JP’s form has fallen at this point.
We expect we will see him as a sub for Cole Palmer, either at half time or shortly afterwards.
In other news…
Cole Palmer returns today, and Enzo Maresca spoke before the game about what he thought the attacker needed to get back to his real level.
Chelsea’s team for today’s game had some interesting changes to it, with Palmer’s addition not the only change for the coach.
