Chelsea captain John Terry has been ruled out of the club’s derby match against Arsenal on Saturday.
Terry, who suffered an ankle injury during the Blues’ 2-2 draw with Swansea City two weeks ago, had hoped to be available for this monumental clash. But unfortunately, it comes to soon for the defender, and Antonio Conte revealed as much during his Friday presser, Chelsea’s official website reports.
John didn’t recover from his injury. He’s working and working but he didn’t recover for the game against Arsenal. I don’t know when he will be back. In this case it’s important what the player feels, the pain he feels.
The manager admitted that there was a huge defensive problem, an issue he inherited when he took the job in the summer. He noted that improvement is needed and pledged to iron things out with the group.
I think when we conceded goals, all the team conceded. Not just the defenders. That means we must improve together to improve the defensive situation.
The problem was already there last season. Chelsea conceded 53 goals last season. We must work a lot on this aspect. If you want to have a great championship, sure, you can’t concede that many goals.
Conte also gave an update on Kurt Zouma’s situation. The French centre-back has been out since February following a horrific knee injury suffered in a match against Manchester United. He is expected back in full training next week, and could be available for selection after the international break.
For Zouma, I hope to see him in the training sessions next week. He’s in good shape. Possibly because of the internationals [he will be back afterwards]. We will wait one more week.
[The international break for Zouma is] good, yes.
