Guus Hiddink explains Kenedy substitution

Chelsea's third substitution in the 2-1 win over Norwich City, immediately after Norwich scored their goal, was a bit of an odd one.

Hiddink, normally, so reluctant to use up all his subs, emptying his hand with over 20 minutes still to play was surprising,  as was the fact that he brought on Baba Rahman as an ostensibly defensive change for young Kenedy.  While Kenedy is hardly a left back, Baba's defense was strongly questioned, to put it mildly, just a few days ago in the game against Southampton.

Chelsea sub that was due to happen before that goal - Baba Rahman is on for Kenedy. #CFCLive

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 1, 2016

It turns out the substitution had nothing to do with any of that.  Kenedy had picked up an injury.

Guus says a full intense 90 minutes was good for Hazard. He took Kenedy off due to what is hopefully only a small groin injury. #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 1, 2016

So that's rather unfortunate timing once again, with another in-form player making an impact (lovely opening goal today) and then picking up an injury.  Pedro is set to miss at least one more match and now Kenedy will be sidelined for at least a short while as well.  Groin injuries, just like hamstring injuries -- or any lower body soft tissue strain like that -- can be annoyingly difficult to properly recover from.

So, hopefully, it is indeed nothing major.  Baba isn't going to get better if he doesn't get to play and Kenedy's talents are surely better utilized further upfield.  And a depleted squad with a suddenly busy schedule is never a good thing.