Injury Woes At Chelsea: Frank Lampard And JohnTerry Out For Weeks
At one point in the season, Chelsea looked unstoppable in the English Premier League. The Blues started their title defence in great fashion, as they dispatched their opponents ruthlessly. While other title contenders faltered from time to time, Chelsea kept dominating in their league matches, scoring a lot of goals. Defensively, Chelsea was even more superior, and their defence stood like a fortified wall in front of the opposition sides.
However, things have changed a lot since the start of the season. Now, Chelsea has started to display weaknesses, as they have won only one of their last three Premier League matches. First, Chelsea lost to Liverpool at Anfield, but the things went from bad to worse when they were thrashed by Sunderland in their own fortress, Stamford Bridge. Injuries to some key players have caused problems for Carlo Ancelotti, and things are getting worse by the day.
One can always tell if a team is struggling by looking at their home performance. Although, the big teams rarely get beaten at home, a big defeat is always a sign of weakness. Sunderland put three goals past Chelsea and threatened to score even more. This is not only a good sign for the title contenders but also others in the premier league, who believed Chelsea could run away with the league title.
The problems for Chelsea have emerged because of injuries to some of their key players. Frank Lampard had surgery for his hernia problem and has been out for two months. Chelsea, however, did well in his absence, as some other players stepped up to fill the gap. Brazilian midfielder, Ramires, and Russian Yuri Zhirkov were given more first team football. Both these players played well for Chelsea and did not let the fans miss the injured Lampard.
However, Chelsea has faced more problems since Lampard’s injury. Now, their captain John Terry is out with injury. The English defender has some problem with his leg and could be ruled out for a number of months. Chelsea Brazilian centre-half Alex has also been ruled out because of injury.
With both these players missing, Ancelotti has to turn towards other players to do the job in the heart of defence. The problem is that none of these players is accustomed to playing in this position, so this will remain a weak spot in Chelsea’s campaign in the coming weeks.
In the game against Sunderland, Chelsea were also missing Michael Essien through suspension. Frank Lampard was looking set to return to the Chelsea squad to cover for Essien. Everything was going well for the Englishman, and then he picked up another injury during training which has ruled him out for another few weeks. Now, Ancelotti will have to wait until December before the situation starts improving for him.
Chelsea has two very important matches coming up in the next two weeks in the English Premier League. The Blues face two tough away games against Birmingham City and against Newcastle United. Both teams are strong and are capable of causing an upset. Injuries to key players might come back and haunt Ancelotti later in the season.
Currently, Chelsea are sitting top of the table, two points ahead of second place Arsenal. The Gunners have a great opportunity to make use of the Chelsea situation and go top of the table in December. If the problems persist for Ancelotti, he might have to get reinforcements, especially in central defence, in the January transfer window.
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