Đorđe Petrović to start, Christopher Nkunku set to play for Chelsea against Sheffield United
Đorđe Petrović will make his first start for Chelsea tomorrow as we take on Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge, with the 24-year-old goalkeeper set to deputize for Robert Sánchez, who had started every match in every competition up to this point, but has now picked up a knee injury.
That knee injury is supposedly minor, but knee injuries are never not scary, especially after you’ve had one yourself. It sounds like we don’t have Bob’s fully assessed yet, which is strange considering it’s been almost a week since it happened, but he’s set to miss out tomorrow either way, as confirmed by Mauricio Pochettino this morning.
“He was our No.1 goalkeeper so far, always a player you are going to miss. I think we have another goalkeeper who is working really hard to be ready, when this type of thing happens. Of course, very sad because we are going to lose a player, maybe for a few weeks. We need to wait and see perfectly the situation with Robert and also with Reece and Marc Cucurella.”
Since we know that James is likely to miss several months (again), hopefully it doesn’t mean that the same fate awaits Sánchez and Cucurella as well, despite being lumped into the same sentence by the head coach.
On the plus side, if there can be a plus side when your injury list constantly numbers in the double-digits, Christopher Nkunku should be set for his (competitive) club debut at long last, presumably off the bench.
And while not mentioned in the presser, Malo Gusto has also returned to full team training, as confirmed by the Chelsea official website.
“Yes, [Nkunku] can be involved. That is very good news. To be involved tomorrow and be in the squad and to start to feel the competition and the teammate after the pre-season is good news for us. We need to be calm and quiet because it is going to put all the pressure on him. Now he needs to evolve, know the Premier League. It’s a big motivation for us, for the teammates, and the fans to see a player that should be important for us and to be in the squad for the first time.”
We can certainly use all the help and good news we can get, even against the worst team in the league.
