Chelsea striker Álvaro Morata limps off with apparent first-half injury against Manchester City

Álvaro Morata’s day is over after just 35 minutes of work against Manchester City after picking up an apparent hamstring injury in the first-half. The Chelsea striker had been playing in his usual lone striker role and having a fairly effective day — if only those couple marginal offsides were called a bit more luckily! — before asking to come off while clutching his hamstring.

Chelsea have been on the back-foot for most of the game so far, and this situation certainly won’t help that. Conte elected to bring on Willian rather than Michy Batshuayi, presumably to keep the front-line a bit more mobile to be able to take advantage of the visitors’ (very) high line, but without a chance to warm up, the attacking midfielder has yet to truly get into the flow of the game. Chelsea have no adjusted too well to the enforced departure of our leading goalscorer; half-time adjustments will be needed.