Chelsea have been hit with some serious injury news ahead of their visit to West Ham tomorrow afternoon.
The Blues are set to be without both Danny Drinkwater and David Luiz in tomorrow’s London derby, with Alvaro Morata also a doubt ahead of the game.
According to Antonio Conte, Drinkwater is suffering from illness and won’t be traveling with the rest of the squad to London Stadium. Meanwhile, Luiz’s long-term knee problem is being treated on day-to-day basis with the Brazilian still yet to return to first-team training.
Conte reports that David Luiz is out injured and Danny Drinkwater is unavailable due to sickness. He has to check the physical condition of a couple of other players before making a selection.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 8, 2017
While Andreas Christensen would have probably been chosen ahead of Luiz anyways, Drinkwater was most likely to be started ahead of Tiemoue Bakayoko.
But the most shocking news is the ones regarding Morata, as he’s been the most influential Blues player of the three this term, having a hand in 13 Chelsea goals in 14 league appearances. According to various reports the Spaniard pulled a muscle in this morning’s training session and had to go through a scan after.
Conte was coy when asked if Morata is a doubt to feature against #WHUFC after it's believed he pulled up in training today. Morata did, however, board Chelsea's team bus. That and more on David Luiz's injury 👇: #CFC https://t.co/S8aqIX8Qv7
— Vai Bhardwaj (@VaiBhardwaj) December 8, 2017
He did hop on to the team bus though, but nothing’s 100 % sure just yet. We must hope for the best, as Morata’s back-up striker Michy Batshuayi is also only returning from his recent injury.
As pointed out in the headline, there has also been a fourth report that could be very bad news for the Blues. According to West Ham’s official website Javier Hernandez is also set to return from his injury to face Chelsea tomorrow afternoon.
— West Ham United (@WestHam) December 8, 2017
The Mexican has an outstanding record against us, and if he’s in form, he can be the real difference-maker for the home side. The Blues defence will thus have to be very sharp facing the former Manchester United striker again.
