Chelsea Facing Series of Injuries: A Tough Time Ahead?

Chelsea may be leading the English premier league point table with a five-point advantage over second placed Arsenal, but it seems that the Blues are going to have a tough time ahead of them. First of all, Chelsea’s medical room is getting crowded with injured players day by day, and the West London club is going to miss a number of key African players in January during African Cup of Nations. They have a crucial match against Arsenal on the road on 29 November and it has already been confirmed that players like Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa and Frank Lampard would miss the game due to their injuries.

Last week, it was confirmed that left back Ashley Cole will miss Chelsea’s trip to Arsenal due to his fractured tibia. Now, Frank Lampard has picked up an injury in his left thigh during a practice session while was on international duty with England in Qatar. It has been reported that the midfielder would need at least 3 thee weeks to recover from the injury. So, he would also miss the Arsenal match.

Another blow for Chelsea comes with right back Jose Bosingwa being out of action for three months with a knee injury as he needs to undergo a surgery. The biggest blow is perhaps injury of in-form striker Didier Drogba who picked up a broken rib during last week’s 1-0 win over Manchester United. Initially, the injury was thought to be a mere bruise, but later on it was found out that Ivory Coast international would be out of action for 3 to 4 weeks.

So, you can see that Chelsea will miss at least four regular players in the coming weeks. In fact, none of the four players may return in action before Christmas. During this time, Chelsea will play some important games including the visit to Arsenal. So, it would not be easy for Carlo Ancelotti’s side to hold on to their no. 1 place in the league table.

Chelsea would go through another tough period when their African stars will be away with international duty during African Cup of Nations in January.  In fact, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel will not be available during the tournament.

So, it is pretty much certain that Chelsea has a tough time ahead of them and it would be interesting to see how effectively they can deal with the situation. They do not have a very big squad and do not have many options in different positions like Manchester United. So, Chelsea’s title hopes this season would vastly rely on how well they can cope up without their star players.