There is a ton of Chelsea FC team news and injury updates to cover, as we head into the next round of UEFA Champions League ties. Estevao Willian, Jamie Gittens, Malo Gusto and Tosin Adarabioyo are all kind of in the same availability category- touch and go for the upcoming matches this week. As it is cold and flu season, there are a lot of viruses and bugs going around, everywhere.
Something is making its way around the team, hitting both the players and the team staff at Chelsea right now.
UEFA Champions League Matchday 7
Chelsea vs Pafos
Kickoff: Wed Jan 21, 8pm, Stamford Bridge, London, UK
UEFA Champions League Standings, Form Chelsea 13th, WWDWL 10 pts Inter Milan 26th 6 pts LDWDL
Google Result Probability: Chelsea Win 84% Draw 11% Pafos 5%
Blues Team News
“Our club doctors are doing everything they can to contain what looks to be a virus because some members of our staff have gone down as well,” manager Liam Rosenior said this past week.
The virus hit Delap and Gittens pretty hard, and they were forced to miss out on the EFL Cup loss to Arsenal in midweek. Delap returned for the weekend win over Brentford, but we’re still waiting on Gittens. Maybe he makes a return here against Pafos? Or perhaps he’ll have to wait until the weekend, versus Crystal Palace.
Rosenior gave the following update on Friday:
“Late yesterday, Estevao had a temperature and a fever. So he was ill – it’s running through the squad. There were a couple of players playing today who were complaining about their chests, but they put in a magnificent effort.”
So he’s probably a 50/50 proposition, for featuring in this match, at this current point. The same goes for Malo Gusto, who has an unspecified issue.
Finally, we have a new fitness concern in Tosin Adarabioyo. He had to exit the win over Brentford early with a hamtring problem, but Rosenior says it’s not too worrisome.
“I think it’s precautionary at the moment, he said, he felt something in his hamstring,” according to Rosenior, who replaced Adarabioyo with Wesley Fofana in the 59′.
“I don’t know if it’s serious, I don’t know if it’s not. He said it felt better afterwards, but at the moment, I’ve got a really, really good bench that I trust…”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.