Chelsea dealt injury scare before Champions League clash

Chelsea have been dealt an injury scare ahead of their clash against Qarabag in the UEFA Champions League. The Blues will hope to extend their excellent vein of form when they lock horns with the Azerbaijani outfit at the Tofik Bahramov Stadium on Wednesday night.

Pedro Neto was not spotted in training at Cobham on Tuesday morning. The 25-year-old winger was replaced by Estevao Willian in the final minutes of Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening.

The substitution appeared to be tactical, with Enzo Maresca eager to bring on some fresh legs. Neto has already featured 14 times across all competitions for the west London outfit this season, chalking up almost 1,000 minutes of action.

In fact, the Portugal international has started all but three of Chelsea’s matches this term. As it stands, it remains to be seen why he was not involved in first-team training; Maresca will be expected to provide an update on his situation when he faces the press at 12:15pm.

Moises Caicedo, Reece James, Marc Guiu, Josh Acheampong, Tyrique George, Alejandro Garnacho, Marc Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez, Estevao, Joao Pedro, Facundo Buonanotte, Romeo Lavia, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jorrel Hato, Jamie Gittens, Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah, Liam Delap, and Malo Gusto were all spotted in training.

Speaking to reporters at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night, Maresca provided an update on Pedro, who has been nursing a knock recently. The Chelsea boss said: “Joao has never been a problem.

“The problem with Joao is that he’s not training every day, because he has problems. He has some problems that we are trying to manage. So, it’s normal that then the consequence is that you cannot be 100 per cent and fit every game.

“But I’m not worried about Joao, because Joao is a good player, he’s going to score goals. Even when he didn’t score, he had some good games. For instance, against Liverpool, I think he was also very good.

“Now we have Liam [Delap] back, that also can help us as a striker. So, we have already a different option, that is a good thing for us, because since we started, we are without Cole [Palmer], we have been two months without Liam. So we need offensive players.”

When quizzed on the result, Maresca outlined his desire to be stronger at the back. The Chelsea boss added: “I think the performance was very good on the ball and off the ball.

“For sure the way we tried to press was very important, but I also think that our game against Liverpool off the ball was top game, was very good, and you need that.

“You need that if you want to be close to the top, you need to be defensively solid. As I said, we know that almost always score goals, but we need also to try to concede less goals.”