Chelsea FC could be without the services of up to nine players when they host Brighton & Hove Albion this weekend. The southwest London side is certainly hoping that Moises Caicedo, the midfielder they acquired from their next opponent, this past summer for a record $146 million, won’t be one of them.
Caicedo is hoping to face his former team on Sunday, having missed out on the defeat at Newcastle last weekend.
Chelsea FC vs Brighton & Hove Albion FYIs
Kickoff: Sun. Dec. 3, 4pm, Stamford Bridge, London, UK
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Premier League Standing:ย Chelseaย 10th, 16 pts,ย ย Brighton 8th, 22 pts
Google Result Probability: Chelseaย 56%ย Brightonย 22%ย Draw 22%
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Manager Mauricio Pochettino explained why:
Yes, it is true that with Moises Caicedo we need to manage his minutes carefully. He only arrived back with us yesterday (Friday) from international duty with Ecuador and has only had one training session, so we felt it was best that we avoid any possible problems and just be careful with him with so many games ahead.
“This is why we have a big squad, so we can use the players. We do not want to force players to play when they are maybe not in complete perfect condition, so Moises not starting is just to avoid any risk.”
Rest of the Blues Team Newsย
Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka, Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana are all ruled out of this one. There are doubts about Malo Gusto, who missed the last match and international duty with France, due to an unspecified knock. He could be available here, and Chelsea will really be hoping that he can be passed fit, given their issues with suspensions in the back line.
Team captain and right back Reece James is suspended here after being sent off for drawing a red card at Newcastle. Left back Marc Cucurella is also suspended, having picked up his fifth yellow of the season last time out. And of course, we’ll still awaiting the competitive Chelsea debuts of Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku.
“It’s difficult say [when Nkunku and Lavia will be back] because we need to assess them day by day,” Pochettino said the most recent time that he spoke about this.
“They are in a good condition. Nkunku a little ahead of Lavia. He was doing things with the group last week, still not fully recovered to be part of the squad.”
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