Chelsea’s manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has backed the club’s medical team despite the club’s unprecedented number of players out with different degrees of injuries.
Over 12 Chelsea’s first team players are currently out with injuries or fitness issues, a development that has forced the club to suffer two defeats, two draws, and recorded just one win in five Premier League games.
While Wesley Fofana, a center back who underwent anterior cruciate ligament surgery, is recovering, France’s Christopher Nkunku, who sustained a knee injury during a preseason game against Borussia Dortmund, is anticipated to be out until at least December.
The team captain Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Romeo Lavia, Marcus Bettinelli, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Armando Broja, are still battling to return to full fitness.
This means that the aforementioned first-team players won’t be available when Aston Villa visit Stamford Bridge for their 6th Premier League game of the season at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 24.
However, players like Moisés Caicedo, Cucurella, Madueke, and Chalobah, are likely to make the squad even though they are days away from returning to full fullness.
While most football analysts believe Chelsea’s medical team is at fault for the incessant injury issues at the club, coach Pochettino said, “It’s the profile of the player, the risk of the player. It’s not the people working in the medical staff of performance area.
“I think we need to respect these areas [at the club] are very good professionals, qualified people. That’s why they are working in football. But there’s an individual risk to [certain] players, you need to assess.
“Then there’s bad luck. We have injuries that maybe happen in one season or maybe in two, but have happened [to Chelsea] because of different situations you cannot control.”
Pochettino added, “Christopher against Dortmund, it was a tackle and he twisted his knee. Three or four months out. That is from the beginning of the game, he wasn’t tired, he was fresh, good, and strong.
“The organization in football are super professional and we need to respect that. Sometimes things happen like this and it’s difficult to evaluate.”
