Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Chelsea’s Armando Broja won’t be starting in tomorrow’s Carabao Cup match against Brighton.
The Blues host Premier League rivals Brighton on Wednesday evening in the Carabao Cup third round.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference this afternoon, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino said that Armando Broja isn’t ready yet to start.
This comes after the 22-year-old striker made his first appearance of 2023 during Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
One rare positive from the weekend was certainly the return of Broja from a long-term injury absence.
The Albania international made a late cameo appearance from the bench, but won’t be in the XI for the midweek cup tie.
When asked if Broja could start against Brighton, Pochettino said via Chelsea’s X account: “No, he’s not ready to start. He is helping the team and doing well. I think he needs time to be fit again to be able to start a game. I think 20/25/30 minutes he can help the team.”
Our guess is Nicolas Jackson will be leading the line again for Chelsea, but there’s pressure on him because of one goal in seven appearances across all competitions this season.
The return of Broja to compete for the centre-forward position is certainly a huge positive for the squad. Hopefully, he can get some more minutes under his belt off the bench against Brighton.
The Athletic recently claimed that Chelsea have huge faith in Broja’s quality as a player. It wouldn’t be fair to rush him after missing such a long time with a serious knee injury.
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