Thiago Silva expected out ‘at least’ one week — report

As if yesterday’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur wasn’t bad enough, Thiago Silva also limped out of the game early on with an apparent knee injury.

Several players had converged on the ball in our penalty area, going down in a heap as a collective, but Thiago had the misfortune of bearing, sideways on his left knee, the brunt of Harry Kane’s weight as it came crashing down. Silva stayed on for a few seconds after treatment, but that was mainly to give Wesley Fofana enough time to get ready (and in fact Enzo Fernández dropped into defense for that brief passage of play, with Silva standing around in midfield).

Ever since I tore my ACL four years ago, every such incident looks like a ligament injury to me, but we may have avoided that outcome. Silva was seen moving around okay-ish after the game, and initial reports today are expecting a non-tragic prognosis — though as The Times report, that still means “at least” a week out for our defensive rock.

He’s expected to miss the game against Leeds United on Saturday and is a doubt for the Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Borussia Dortmund, which is the only meaningful game left on the schedule as far as competitive ambitions are concerned (unless we truly get dragged into a relegation fight).

The full extent of the problem won’t be known until scans come back, and we’ve already had a couple instance this season alone when initial optimism was quickly replaced by a much more serious diagnosis, so fingers crossed that it’s just a minor problem. I don’t even want to think about what a major injury might mean at this point for Thiago’s career, regardless of his ability to defy Father Time.

Positive thoughts!