Christian Pulisic is “in contention” to play against Manchester City tomorrow, having recovered from the minor hip injury he suffered two weeks ago in the match against Crystal Palace.
The USA international was withdrawn from national team duty over the past fortnight, but has been back in training this week without any issues, as Frank Lampard reported in this morning’s pre-match press conference,
“Christian didn’t go and we had a full conversation with USA, their manager and medical team because we want to be honest and open and have that respect throughout
“He had a problem going into the last game against Crystal Palace. He was struggling a little then and that’s why he came off after his goal. Christian has been training again this week with us and he’s in contention for the weekend.”
But there’s surprising bad news on young Callum Hudson-Odoi, who apparently picked up a hamstring problem last weekend while away with England. And here we thought we had survived the international break without any new injuries!
“Callum Hudson-Odoi is the one who has a hamstring issue that he picked up at the weekend. He will probably be out of contention for this weekend but we hope that it’s only something short-term with him.”
-Frank Lampard; source: Chelsea FC
While that’s a nice hope to have, hamstring injuries have a nasty habit of lingering beyond just a week or two. While Chelsea are well-stocked in attack, with Pulisic, Mount and veterans Willian and Pedro all quality options, Hudson-Odoi had been in excellent form since returning from his Achilles rupture. Get well soon, Callum!
As far as other injuries, there were no updates on Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Antonio Rudiger, or Ross Barkley, but the latter should be close to being available again.