Chelsea will be without Alvaro Morata in their Carabao Cup clash with Arsenal on Wednesday after Antonio Conte revealed he picked has picked up an injury, and now the injury type has been revealed.
Morata has suffered a couple of injuries since his signing for Chelsea last summer but one seems to remain persistent – a back injury.
The former Real Madrid striker missed the Blues Premier League clash with Brighton last weekend and is set to sit out Chelsea’s second leg game in the semi final of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday because of the back injury.
The extent of the injury is not yet known as Chelsea hope to find a quality back up option for the Spanish forward, and Conte admits he cannot assure Chelsea fans how long his striker will be out for.
“If you remember, in the past, he stopped himself for a problem in his back. A pain in the back. Now this pain has come back. I hope it’s not serious. But this is the second game that he stopped. He wasn’t available against Brighton because this problem was there the day before as well [regardless of his suspension].
I don’t know but, for sure, he’s having this problem now. Now he’s with the medical department to try and solve this problem and give him the opportunity to have a training session without pain.
But this is the real problem now – not that he’s not scoring or that his confidence is down. For every striker, you can pass this type of moment. But the real problem now is he has to overcome this problem in his back. I hope to solve this problem very quickly because we need Alvaro. We need Alvaro’s commitment.”
Antonio Conte, Evening Standard
Morata’s injury will be a scare for Chelsea, especially if he remains out in the coming weeks, but the Premier League champions are also said to be close to tying the deal to sign AS Roma’s Edin Dzeko this January.
