:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63574818/1143296081.jpg.0.jpg)
Chelsea have had a rather excellent season in terms of injuries and fitness, thanks in part to Sarri’s fairly regular, almost dogmatic rotation between midweek and weekend matches, but as we head into the final month of the season, there are a few notable absentees to contend with.
Chief among those is Antonio Rüdiger, who limped off against Liverpool on Sunday with an apparent knee injury. While his exact prognosis hasn’t been revealed yet, it’s expected that he will miss the rest of the season.
No Antonio Rudiger, Ethan Amapdu or Marcos Alonso at #CFC training down at Cobham (or Danny Drinkwater, for that matter). Gary Cahill out there...
— Dominic Fifield (@domfifield) April 17, 2019
Another absentee from Wednesday’s training was left back Marcos Alonso, who had been dealing with hamstring injury. While he did play against Slavia last week — and scored the winning goal! — he has missed the last three Premier League games, with some reports suggesting that the injury flared up again after Thursday’s first leg.
We should receive some clarification on Alonso’s status shortly as Gianfranco Zola takes to the mic in the pre-match press conference. Apparently Maurizio Sarri is down and out from public speaking after a bit of dental work. Dropping like flies!
It'll be Zola rather than Sarri alongside Giroud today - the word is Sarri had a 'minor medical procedure' on his mouth (he's fine, just in a bit of pain) #cfc
— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) April 17, 2019
Also missing training were Ethan Ampadu (injured since the March international break) and Danny Drinkwater, possibly as a result of his recent DUI. Gary Cahill was out there, and while this is being played up as a newsworthy story, he’s been training with the team all along ... but maybe he’ll play tomorrow for the first time since November!