Injured players have not saved Chelsea yet, but hope remains

Chelsea has had several injured players who were supposed to return and save the team. It never quite happened, but hope remains for the next batch.

Chelsea’s defensive issues were supposed to be all fixed when N’Golo Kante returned to fitness. Then it was the same chorus with Antonio Rudiger. Neither solved the problem.

Callum Hudson-Odoi was supposed to reignite Chelsea’s attack, but he is only just now looking like he used to. Really, only Reece James has returned from an injury and lived up to the hype surrounding his return.

That is why it remains somewhat awkward that fans believe the currently injured Christian Pulisic or Ruben Loftus-Cheek will return and fix the stunted attack. After all, Chelsea has seen this story before.

There is at least an argument to be made for Pulisic. Chelsea’s dip in attacking form coincided roughly with his injury. But Pulisic is not the one missing wide open shots. He is the one actually playing a pass to someone for a shot, but otherwise it is hard to really say he will come back in and change things.

The Loftus-Cheek one is the real sticky one. Loftus-Cheek was an amazing, perhaps world class in the making, player last season. Then he picked up that Achilles injury. That is not some peanuts injury either; injuries like that can change the entire career of players going forward.

Not only that, but the recovery time does not end when the player can step on to a pitch again. Hudson-Odoi had a similar (albeit less severe) injury and it took him months to start to look like himself again. With only about three months remaining in this season, the chances of Loftus-Cheek returning and actually being a major contributor any time soon are pretty slim.

That is not to say it is impossible; it is just unlikely. Chelsea fans already put their hopes in Rudiger, Kante, and Hudson-Odoi upon their respective returns. The same is happening with Loftus-Cheek and that expectation, while hopeful, is unrealistic.

The idea of a Loftus-Cheek loan was floated last week and met with poor reviews which is understandable. But it might be the best thing for Loftus-Cheek if his return from injury is not smooth. Obviously make a spot for him if he is close to fitness or can change his game to work around any issues, but his playing time overall cannot be jeopardized (think Ethan Ampadu fighting injury this season with no playing time to regain match fitness).

But mainly this is about expecting these players to pick right back up where they left off. They might but it just seems unlikely that they will return and lead Chelsea to top four glory on their own. The players that have thus far covered for them, battered and tired as they may be, can get Chelsea across the line.

It would be great if Loftus-Cheek and Pulisic could join in and do the same, but it may be best to take a step back and consider how likely (or not) that may be in the game.