Christopher Nkunku’s fitness for Sunday’s Chelsea match against Brighton will have to wait for Mauricio Pochettino to find out.
The fact that the team is also operating without a number of important players as we approach December and the hectic winter season is unfortunate.
The manager spoke of Nkunku and Romeo Lavia before the game, “We need to assess tomorrow and then decide.”
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They’re almost there, but we have to decide tomorrow. We must evaluate Nkunku for tomorrow even though Lavia might be the more challenging one.
Despite having signed during the summer, Nkunku has yet to make a competitive debut for the Blues, but he is getting closer than ever. While he has been practising with the squad for the last two weeks, it has been more than six months since he last participated in a significant game.
Lavia arrived far later than Nkunku, but since then, he has been preparing for his debut after taking a knock during the September international break. The teenager is probably going to miss the match at Stamford Bridge against Roberto De Zerbi’s team.
Chelsea’s opportunity to bounce back from their 4-1 loss to Newcastle last week is greatly required as the gap between them and the top four/five continues to widen. The defeat in the northeast was not just a crushing setback but also a severe blow to Pochettino’s availability.
Despite not having played a league game until October, Marc Cucurella met the booking requirement for a ban, while Reece James was sent off in the second half after receiving two yellow cards in a completely unnecessary manner. As a result, the Blues will be missing half of their starting defence from St. James’ Park, and they will probably count on Levi Colwill and Axel Disasi to return to the full-back position.
The fact that James has already missed a significant portion of the season due to injury and that backup right-back Malo Gusto appears likely to be sidelined makes James’ absence all the more painful. He hasn’t played since having to withdraw from the France Under-21 team during the international break due to a knee injury.
Using thick strapping on his right leg, Gusto has been playing with a niggle for the whole of the season. Before travelling to England to play in the Premier League for the first time, the 20-year-old experienced issues at Lyon in the second part of the previous campaign.
Pochettino wasn’t optimistic about getting his missing players back, even though he wasn’t specifically talking about Gusto. He remarked, “Not too much news.” “There is one more training session and we can see tomorrow, but we don’t think we can recover some players.”
In addition to Gusto, Nkunku and Lavia both made progress in their reconditioning phases of their respective recoveries, according to the team’s pre-match injury update. Regarding Trevoh Chalobah, who hasn’t played this season, there is no update available elsewhere.
Although he is again working outside on the grass, Wesley Fofana is not expected to return until much later in the season. Despite making a comeback to the bench against Burnley in September, Carney Chukwuemeka has not appeared on the pitch since the season’s opening match. Also absent is Ben Chilwell.
