The latest Chelsea team and injury news
after Andreas Christensen misses the Premier League victory at Crystal Palace
with training ground set-back
It’s been a near-perfect week for Chelsea following their shock
defeat to relegation-threatened West Brom.
Bouncing straight back with a Champions League first-leg victory
over Porto, the Blues doubled up at Selhurst Park when they swept aside London
neighbours Crystal Palace yesterday afternoon.
It was a resounding 4-1 verdict that temporarily lifted them into
the top-four positions.
However, despite watching rivals West
Ham and Liverpool also claim three points, against Leicester City and Aston
Villa respectively, the Blues were handed a boost elsewhere by Manchester
United’s win at Tottenham.
Now only a point behind fourth-placed West Ham, Chelsea are
set to board the plane to Seville in a bid to cement their spot in the
semi-finals of the Champions League.
Indeed, they return to the same Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan venue
on Tuesday night (8pm) ahead of a second leg clash against Portuguese opponents
Porto – and do so with a 2-0 ‘away’ goals advantage.
Here is the current state of play on the Chelsea treatment
table ahead of that return journey to Spain.
Andreas Christensen
Injury: Hamstring (in training)
Possible return date: April 13 (vs Porto)
Thomas Tuchel passed his entire squad fit ahead of the trip
to Selhurst Park – so the omission of Christensen came as something of a
surprise. However, the Dane is not expected to be out for too long after it was
reported that he only picked up a minor hamstring injury in training.
N’Golo Kante
Injury: Hamstring (France vs Ukraine on March
24)
Returned on: April 7 (vs Porto)
What Tuchel has said: “He has a little muscle injury, as was
communicated from the national team. So my realistic approach is to think after
Porto – to think about the second game against Porto.”
Having initially picked up the injury against Burnley, the
23-year-old did feature against Barnsley in the FA Cup just days later, before
also playing against Newcastle United and Southampton. However, the England
frontman was forced off after 20 minutes against the Magpies and he hasn’t
played for two months. Abraham did, though, return to the bench as an unused
substitute against Porto and Palace.
What Tuchel has said: “Honestly I’m a bit concerned, because it’s still
the pain from the tackle against Burnley. So we’re talking about a long time
now where he does not really feel 100 per cent free and comfortable; I can see
it in training. Even if he finishes training, I can see that it’s not 100 per
cent that he has trust or feels totally free.”
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