Chelsea’s £50million star Ben Chilwell looks as though he will be out for a significant amount of time after suffering a big injury blow to his hamstring in the dying embers of the 2-1 Champions League win against Dinamo Zagreb.
With his World Cup chances obliterated, just a matter of weeks before the much anticipated grand occasion, Chilwell has endured a deducing blow that could have been avoided in what was a dead-rubber affair.
The Athletic reporter Liam Twomey has raised questions as to why Chilwell was risked in the game and believes Potter ignored the “lack of real stakes at home to Dinamo with his team selection.”
Was it worth the risk?
Having played 26 combined minutes in Chelsea’s previous two games before taking on Zagreb, Potter was clearly looking to grant the England international what he would have deemed to be vital minutes on the pitch, ahead of the congested fixture schedule caused by the World Cup.
The Chelsea boss alluded to this: “Because he didn’t play at the weekend, there was the thought he could play tonight and have enough time to recover for the weekend,” Potter said of Chilwell.
“We’ve tried to manage him. He’s never played three games in a week. He’s had to have build-up that I think has been good for him.
“That’s what makes it very frustrating. It’s a blow for us and a blow for him. Sadly he won’t be the only one who’s affected like that in this period because October was incredibly challenging in terms of the games we had to play. But it is what it is.”
Twomey is correct in raising the question as to whether Chilwell should have been risked in the dead-rubber and, despite his man of the match performance, it’s a night that ended terribly for the 25-year-old, who will surely be done out of a winter World Cup experience.
