Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell is expected to be missing for the rest of the calendar year as a result of an ankle injury he suffered during the club’s 3-0 win over West Ham earlier this week.
Chilwell was substituted just ten minutes into the west-east London derby and replaced by the seldom seen Emerson Palmieri.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the ankle scan conducted has not shown any significant damage or signs of break and the most likely issue is minor ligament damage. That could put his recovery at an estimated two weeks, which means being out until January.
In that time period, Chelsea are due to play Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City, with the latter game on 3 January. Chilwell would then expect to be fit by the time the Blues are scheduled to face Morecambe in the third round of the FA Cup on 10 January.
In the meantime, the onus will be on Emerson to step up. The Italy international has barely featured in the Premier League this season, although he did start Chelsea’s final two Champions League group games against Sevilla and Krasnodar when qualification was tied up.
Emerson has also played in the Carabao Cup but has generally not even featured on the bench in the Premier League. This week’s appearance was the first time he had been named in a matchday squad in the league for a month, going four consecutive games missing out.
Marcos Alonso is the other obvious left-back in the squad, but the 2016/17 Premier League title winner has fallen completely out of favour with manager Frank Lampard.
Alonso hasn’t featured in a Premier League squad since he was hooked at half-time when Chelsea were trailing 3-0 against West Brom in September. He has been on the bench in the Champions League but has been behind Emerson in the pecking order.
Cesar Azpilicueta can also play left-back, although the club captain was actually filling in on the right instead for the injured Reece James on Monday night.
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Source : 90min