Injuries play a big part in football and could derail a team’s season in an instance. This is one aspect Chelsea will need to be on top of next season if they are to secure their targets.
With a transfer ban next season, Chelsea need to make sure they can keep the current squad of players together for the majority of next year because there is simply not enough quality as there is, due to the number of players needed to be sold.
Last season Chelsea’s defence conceded a mammoth 56 goals in all competitions, and with the defence struggling so badly, you wouldn’t want the team to further limit the team due to injury. Imagine a scenario where David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta are injured, Chelsea would have to rely on youth players to fill the gaping holes, like Fikayo Tomori who has made just one senior appearance for the club.
In midfield, Chelsea are already missing their top goalscoring midfielder in Ruben Loftus-Cheek for up to a year, so the backroom staff will need to make sure no other player suffers injury. Both Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic combined for just five goals and eight assist last season, which was two short of what Loftus-Cheek managed himself.
With goalscoring from midfield already hampered with Loftus-Cheek’s long-term injury, Chelsea’s coaching staff need to ensure they don’t lose Barkley or Kovacic, as after that Chelsea would be left with inexperienced youth players like Mason Mount, who is yet to make a senior appearance for Chelsea.
Forward options would prove to be one of the biggest problem areas if an injury crisis was to strike. Chelsea’s forward options already deeply relied on Eden Hazard last season. The Belgian contributed more goals than any other Chelsea attacker last season, scoring 16 goals and assisting a further 15 in the Premier League. After Hazard, Pedro was the next highest contributor with just eight goals and two assists, quite a steep gap in contribution. Any injury to two or more attacking options will most likely see a dry spell in front of goal due to the failures of the attackers last season.
Chelsea are in a situation where two or more injuries in defence, midfield, or attack would leave them horribly short. Last season showed that the quality was already low as it is, and with a transfer ban stopping the club from signing any players, losing players in the current squad to injury won’t help the cause. The Chelsea backroom staff have their work cut out to ensure that injuries don’t build-up next season.