Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino is about to receive a major boost from Levi Colwill and Conor Gallagher before the international break.
Once more, Mauricio Pochettino is beginning to quietly turn his attention away from the crucial encounter against Burnley on Saturday and towards the fortnight after that, when the most of his players will be away on international duty. Premier League play will be interrupted once more less than a month after the previous break.
The break was seen as a positive thing at the time because Chelsea had just lost at home to Forest. Nevertheless, two weeks later, not much had changed.
When Chelsea came back and drew 0-0 with Bournemouth, they bemoaned the demanding schedule for South American players. Also the harsh coaches drove both Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo to their breaking points. Pochettino had 11 players out going into the games against the Cherries, Aston Villa, Brighton, and Fulham, followed by Burnley. This was far from having a completely healthy team.
At that time, Reece James, Armando Broja, Benoit Badiashile, and Carney Chukwuemeka were hopeful of a return. But only Broja has done so. Chelsea enters the match against Burnley and the subsequent dispersion of the team with renewed hope that the squad will have greater depth when Arsenal visits Stamford Bridge on October 21.
Chelsea and its injury woes
While Badiashile is travelling to Burnley, James is back in training. But he was probably already out of the running before his FA ban resulted in additional two weeks without competitive participation. Chukwuemeka may make the squad for Chelsea on Saturday. But if the break goes well, he might get the call to the England Under-21 team first.
Perhaps Pochettino’s biggest win of the week will come with the Three Lions. Raheem Sterling is once again left out of Gareth Southgate’s team. James is also not regarded ready. The only players called up for action are Levi Colwill and Conor Gallagher.
Despite playing out of position and in positions they were unfamiliar with, the two have been pillars of Pochettino’s squad. Both have shown themselves as crucial and undroppable for Chelsea by starting every game this term. There is little doubt that the same will be mostly true when Burnley and finally Arsenal arrive.
Pochettino will have to watch them play for their country while holding his breath. In World Cup qualification, the same holds true for Fernandez and Caicedo. The long distance travel will probably be expensive once more in terms of actual preparation for the London derby.
Pochettino will be hoping that there is no more injuries to his players
Colwill and Gallagher, though, are more inclined to just take a break. Under Southgate, neither player is a regular starter. Colwill has also not yet made his entire debut. With the national team, Gallagher is more of an impact replacement than a dependable player from the start.
Both of these problems won’t concern the Chelsea manager too much because they could even help him keep his two great players fresh. Even better than that, English players’ travel during the upcoming week is about as fantastic as it gets. There will be no need for overseas travel this time. Both games—a friendly against Australia and a Euro 2024 qualifying match against Italy—will be held at Wembley.
In Comparison to the trip to Poland and back, as well as Scotland during the last vacation, it is a significant reduction. This may seem like a little matter. But at a time when Chelsea team’s injury woes are unrelenting and tiredness is made worse by the squad’s widespread ailments, which limit choices, every little victory counts.
For more sports updates, follow us on Twitter.
