the health facing another anxiously waiting to discover the magnitude of Denise Zakaria‘s injury after the Premier League meeting with Fulham.
An increasingly miserable season spiraled further out of control for the Blues at Craven Cottage on Thursday night, with a 2-1 defeat sealed by a Carlos Vinicius header making it just one win in the last nine games either side of the World Cup break, putting further pressure on the beleaguered manager Graham Potter with his side 10th in the table and 10 points behind the top four.
Chelsea’s dramatic slump coincided with a deepening injury crisis, with the visitors missing a total of nine players for the all-Capital fixture in SW6, with Edouard Mendy, Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, N’Golo Kante, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic and Armando Broja all offside.
Such a predicament only worsened further on another miserable evening for Potter on Thursday, when Zakaria limped at Craven Cottage early in the second half and was replaced by Jorginho in another blow.
The Swiss international midfielder had to wait months for his Chelsea debut after being loaned out by Juventus on the day of the summer transfer window deadline. some considerable time.
Crisis deepens: Chelsea midfielder Denis Zakaria stumbled out of 2-1 defeat to Fulham
/ Getty ImagesAsked for an update on Zakaria after another defeat, a glum Potter said: “The only assessment is that it’s at the top of the quad.
“He felt it when he cleared the ball. In terms of size, it’s too early to say.”
Chelsea’s availability crunch got worse against Fulham, with new loan deal Joao Felix inexplicably ejected on his debut for a pitifully high challenge on Kenny Tete which rightly earned him a straight red card from referee David Coote just minutes after Zakaria’s withdrawal.
After an initially thrilling display, the Portuguese striker will now miss Crystal Palace’s visit to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, the trip to Liverpool on January 21 and a second meeting with Fulham on February 3.
He would be eligible to return for another London derby against West Ham on February 11, with Chelsea next to face Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League final-16 draw in Germany.
“It was a striker’s tackle, there was no harm in it, but I understand why it was red,” Potter said of Felix’s dismissal. “It is another blow, the hits keep coming at the moment.
“He was really good, you could see his quality in the game, so it’s doubly disappointing for us.”