Chelsea has a love-hate relationship with the international break. It’s no secret that this season’s stoppages for useless friendlies have just made this whole ordeal a helluva lot harder, but I digress. The Blues have seen players kick their form into gear while on international duty, highlighting the only positive outcome. Nevertheless, the extensive injury list has transformed a minor annoyance into a larger problem.
This break is no different. As European countries prepare for this summer’s Euros and other nations play in friendlies or Olympic qualifiers, Chelsea saw many of its stars get more minutes under their belt during the last two weeks. Luckily, players are beginning to return to their clubs and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Here are the good, the bad and the ugly headlines surrounding the Blues during this latest stoppage:
The ugly
There’s no sugarcoating the biggest negatives of international duty, so let’s dive right in. The most concerning headline was certainly N’Golo Kante’s hamstring injury. Kante—who celebrated his 30th birthday earlier this week—returned to Cobham last Friday for treatment. He picked up the knock late during France’s match against Ukraine and left the French camp two days later. The injury has been described as minor, but there is still cause for concern.
Kante is only just returning from another small injury he had during Thomas Tuchel’s first few games in charge. The German manager obviously sees the French midfielder as a huge piece in his side. Therefore, his long-term health is a concern, as well as getting him fit for the run of massive matches the Blues have coming up. It’s safe to assume Kante will miss the West Brom game at the weekend in hopes he can return for the first leg against Porto. If not, Tuchel will have to hope Jorginho recovers from the knock he suffered before the international break in time to slot in next to Mateo Kovacic. Regardless, Kante’s health is crucial to Chelsea’s success and our fingers are crossed everything is OK on his end.
If you thought we were done with injuries, think again.
Callum Hudson-Odoi—another one of the key starters during the early stages of the Tuchel era—picked up a shoulder injury with the England U21s late last week. He was kept out of the young Three Lions’ match against Portugal and will not play against Croatia after being sent home. This is another injury that seemed to be downplayed at the beginning, but now looks worse than originally expected. Hudson-Odoi has played a big part, whether is be at right wingback, winger or off the bench, under Tuchel. The youngster is finally starting to put together a consistent run of form for the first time since his devastating injury under Maurizio Sarri, so it’d be a shame to see him sidelined again.