Graham Potter has delivered a fitness update on Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell, who was substituted off the pitch in tonight’s defeat to Borussia Dortmund.
It was a real mix of emotion on Wednesday evening for Chelsea supporters, who watched their side suffer a 1-0 loss away to Dortmund in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie.
Karim Adeyemi, who’s just 21, scored the only goal of the contest for hosts Dortmund. His stunning counter-attack means the Germans go into the second leg at Stamford Bridge with a narrow advantage.
Despite losing the game, the Blues showed so much quality to suggest they’re starting to gel as a unit. However, Graham Potter’s critics won’t get any quieter if the team continues to struggle in front of goal and record poor results.
There’s definitely reason to be encouraged before the second leg with Dortmund next month, though.
Ben Chilwell update
Chilwell, 26, was back in the starting line-up against Dortmund for his first start since November.
The £50million left-back reminded everyone what they’ve been missing with an energetic and positive display, but he was substituted off the pitch in the 71st minute. It appeared like the Englishman was limping, too.
Potter has now clarified and given an update on Chilwell’s fitness in his post-match interview.
He’s shared that the full-back did receive a kick to his ankle and he’s not fully checked it out yet. However, he suggests Chilwell was more likely struggling with fatigue after such a long time out, plus his substitution was already planned.
“About five minutes before he came off, he had a run down the side and had a kick on his ankle,” Potter said, as quoted by Football London.
“I haven’t checked it over but I think it’s more a kick than anything else and probably a little bit of fatigue. That was his first start for some time so the idea before the game was to take him off at 60/70 minutes max. So that was the plan.”
Thankfully, Chilwell’s issue doesn’t sound like a serious one. We’re sure to find out more details in the coming days ahead.
It was great to see Reece James and Chilwell as Chelsea’s starting full-back pairing against Dortmund. Hopefully, there’s a lot more of that to come from now until the end of the season.
Keep up to date with all the latest Chelsea news and opinion by following The Chelsea Chronicle’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox
