Didier Drogba to miss the start of the season
Ivory Coast International, and Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is set to miss the start of the season after a minor operation due to a groin injury he has been carrying for some time now. The Chelsea man spent the majority of last season carrying the injury and delayed an operation first due to Chelsea’s involvement in the Premier League and FA Cup, and secondly due to the Ivory Coast’s World Cup campaign.
The striker is set to be out for at least three weeks as he looks to recover from the surgery. The layoff means that Drogba will miss the start of the season but it is only likely to be three or four games and with a relatively easy start to the season including fixtures against West Brom, Wigan, Stoke and West Ham, Chelsea should be able to deal with the loss of the influential striker who scored 29 goals in the Premier League last season.
Didier Drogba, who played the World Cup with a broken arm, is not the only Chelsea player to be missing the start of the season as Alex and Petr Cech are already out with injuries. Although the impact of Drogba alone on the team may not have been enough to destabilize them, the exclusion of two other starters, along with the departures of Michael Ballack and Joe Cole may yet meant that Chelsea struggle to get off to a good start in the coming Premier League season.
There are a number of young players who could step in and take some of the responsibility, but with fitness issues at the start of the season, Chelsea really need the experienced players to lead the others to get a good start for the club. A lot of responsibility will fall on the shoulders of players such as Frank Lampard, John Terry, Michael Essien and Nicholas Anelka as the season starts, especially in the goal-scoring department.
Chelsea are desperately short in attack with only two experienced players available upfront, in Solomon Kalou and Nicholas Anelka with Daniel Sturridge and Franco Di Santo as back up. The West London club have been linked with a number of forwards this summer including Fernando Torres and Mario Balotelli but it looks like neither of them will be arriving and this season, if injuries head their way, Chelsea could struggle to defend the title of Premier League Champions due to the lack of depth in their squad.
Having said that, the young players at the club now have an opportunity to show Carlo Ancelotti just what they’re about by helping the club through this mini-injury crisis. Di Santo, who was out on loan last year to Blackburn Rovers, along with Sturridge can provide the much needed firepower in an ageing forward line. There is also the reserve team star, Fabio Borini, who was one of the players Carlo Ancelotti mentioned when talking about youth team players being including in the first team squad.
Only time will tell how the season progresses for the English Champions but with Manchester City continuing to strengthen, it looks like the start of the season will be crucial to determining who will win one of the most competitive league’s in the history of the competition.
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