Chelsea in full-blown ‘crisis’ as investigation begins – expert
Graham Potter has more than enough strength, depth and money to avoid using injuries as an excuse at Chelsea this season.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.
Following injuries to Edouard Mendy, Reece James and Denis Zakaria in recent weeks, Chelsea now have 10 key players out injured at Stamford Bridge.
Earlier this month, Potter expressed that he’d “never experienced anything like it” in his managerial career.
Much has been made of the situation at Chelsea, and The Telegraph reported last Friday (13 January) that the club are set to hold an internal review of their medical department.
Dinnery believes the financial muscle shown by the Blues this month means Potter can not hide behind injuries.
“It’s 10 injured now for Chelsea but they do have an extremely big squad of players,” Dinnery told Football Insider.
“You rule out a handful of players within that team and they then go out and spend millions and millions of pounds recruiting other players to back up the already strong squad in place.
“It’s not as if Chelsea are dipping into the Under-21s and just throwing anybody in.
“They’re replacing international players with international players.
“Undoubtedly there are big issues there defensively but when they lose Mendy they have Kepa Arrizabalaga – still the world’s most expensive goalkeeper.
“You lose Christian Pulisic and Raheem Sterling and still have Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech and now Mykhailo Mudryk and Joao Felix too.
“So I understand the worry based purely on the numbers, but we’re not talking about a crisis.
“Graham Potter has more than enough in terms of strength, depth and spending power – injuries can no longer be an excuse.“
In other news, Chelsea are backed to accept Raheem Sterling offer amid ‘big’ claim