Injured Broja’s probable return date and an upcoming friendly

The Pride of London discuss the impact of Armando Broja’s injury and his probable return date. Meanwhile Chelsea have scheduled an upcoming friendly.

Morocco’s Hakim Ziyech and Mateo Kovacic of Croatia are the only Blues players remaining at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This means the rather thin senior section of the squad will be boosted by returning personnel during the week.

The young stars who are emerging on the roster are worth mentioning – even more so at this point. Many featured as CFC played a non-competitive game against Aston Villa on Sunday whilst at an Abu Dhabi training camp. Villa were 1-0 winners in the encounter thanks to a John McGinn goal.

Bashir Humphreys, Alfie Gilchrist, Josh Brooking, Omari Hutchinson and Charlie Webster were all in the starting lineup. New first team favourite Lewis Hall was also involved.

However, the main focus – following another practice outing which PoL shall outline later on – will now be on the next Premier League outing versus Bournemouth. A match that Potter must win or scrutiny will increase from inside the club, along with outside speculation which is beginning to get louder.

Unfortunately Potter won’t be able to call on the highly-rated Broja if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kai Havertz are struggling for consistency. Regrettably the Albania international is set to miss the rest of the current season because of a ruptured cruciate ligament in the right knee. The incident occurred just 22 minutes into the friendly.

There is now talk of Hutchinson being given an opportunity as a backup striker due to the issue. The former Arsenal youngster impressed in the Villans fixture. PoL would certainly like to see more of the 19-year-old but, of course, offer our best wishes to Broja.

Chelsea have another upcoming friendly

Following the loss, Chels’ have a further meeting planned with an EPL side. The Blues will play Brentford behind closed doors before the English top-flight resumes. CFC’s Cobham Training Ground will host the Bees on Tuesday, 20 December.

That is just a mere week prior to the Cherries’ visit to Stamford Bridge as competitive domestic football gets back underway. With any luck, Potter’s outfit will gain a bit of confidence, devastating fluidity and notable sharpness from the matches.