Chelsea came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 today, but they did it without left winger Christian Pulisic, who: “felt a hamstring training after the Southampton game and is left out as a precaution.”
We haven’t seen him much lately as he only came on for the final 25 minutes of the shocking home defeat to lowly Saints on Boxing Day. He didn’t start versus Tottenham Hotspur last weekend either. The American’s hamstring injury could not have come at a worse time for the Blues as we’re in the midst of festive period fixture congestion. We’re really in the thick of it now as the matches keep coming on the slate fast and furious.
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It’s not the case at Borussia Dortmund, the 21-year-old’s previous club, as the German top flight always takes time off during the holiday period. It’s also worth noting that Pulisic didn’t have a vacation between international duty with the United States this summer and joining up with the Chelsea squad.
The Hershey, Pennsylvania native only had a couple days off in between the Gold Cup tournament and the Blues preseason. However, he did have a holiday in between leaving BVB and joining the USMNT. It’s an entirely possible he’s kind of hit the wall now, having not been sufficiently rested, overall, in the grand scheme of this season.
Pulisic has not been involved in any scoring for Chelsea over the course of their last six, and that’s been very disappointing. It’s also been very unexpected, given how he was on fire in October and November.
Pulisic is definitely a strong doubt for the New Year’s Day league clash at Brighton, and it’s probably likely he misses out on the FA Cup third round clash versus Nottingham Forest.
Chelsea at Brighton FYIs
Google Result Probability: Chelsea win 47%, Brighton win 27%, Draw 26%
Form guide: Chelsea WLWLL Brighton WLLDD
Odds via Betway: Chelsea win 1.95, Brighton win 3.75, Draw 3.75
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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