Chelsea are set to take on Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and the Blues will be hoping to make it two wins in a row under their new boss Maurizio Sarri.
While Arsenal will want to shake off their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City last weekend and in turn pick up their first three points under Unai Emery.
Chelsea go into the match as slight favourites but a bizarre injury concern might have thrown a spanner into Maurizio Sarri’s team plan.
Just 24 hours before the match, the Blues manager has confirmed that midfielder Cesc Fabregas is ruled out with a rather ‘unusual’ injury.
Sarri has claimed that Fabregas is feeling pain not on the knee but near it. Describing the injury as ‘unusual’ the manager hoped that the Spaniard will return to training next week.
The manager said: ‘Fabregas is out for this match. I hope he will be able to be on the pitch next week.
‘I’m not sure, it’s nothing serious, but he has a very unusual injury. Nothing serious. I hope in the next week we will be able to have him training.
Metro | Cesc Fabregas set to miss #Chelsea’s clash with Arsenal due to knee injury. #CFC pic.twitter.com/zW6o0SE9Rx
— The Blues (@TheBlues___) August 14, 2018
‘He has a pain, not in the knee… near the knee. But not in the knee.’
Will we see a debut now that Cesc Fabregas is ruled out?
With the former Arsenal man ruled out with injury, Maurizio Sarri should hand in a debut to Matteo Kovacic who arrived during the summer on a loan spell from Real Madrid.
But the manager has made it clear that Kovacic is not fully fit and will not get 90 minutes on the pitch vs Arsenal.
This clearly means that Kovacic will hopefully be brought on as a late substitute – if required.
Read: Arsenal suffer a major injury blow which will not only disrupt the Chelsea clash but their future games too.
Read: Unai Emery drops selection hints before the Chelsea game and also goes on to claim that he has one big headache.
Read: 4-3-2-1 Chelsea’s predicted line-up vs Arsenal.
Read: 4-3-3 Arsenal’s predicted line-up vs Chelsea.
