Liam Rosenior, Chelsea’s head coach, says that three of the team’s best defenders won’t be able to play when they host Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon. In his press conference before the game on Friday, the 41-year-old confirmed that club captain Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, and Levi Colwill are all making progress but will not be able to play against Pep Guardiola’s strong side.
James has been out since March 14 after re-injuring his hamstring during the 1-0 home loss to Newcastle. Chalobah was carried off on a stretcher with a high ankle sprain just three days later in the 3-0 Champions League last-16 second-leg loss to Paris Saint-Germain. Colwill hasn’t played a single game this season because he hurt his ACL in the pre-season. He is only now starting to resume full sessions at Cobham.
Rosenior is really short on defenders without the three of them. Wesley Fofana and Tosin Adarabioyo are expected to hold down the fort, and Marc Cucurella will return to left-back. Chelsea are currently sixth in the Premier League, six points behind the top four. They have only seven games left in their Champions League push.
Rosenior Admits a Magician Could Not Fix Chelsea in His Short Time at the Club
The ex-Hull City manager also talked about how nice it was to finally have some good time on the training pitch. He said that the recent break in games had given him two clear sessions to work with his team. Rosenior said that this was the first time since he arrived in January that he had two days of uninterrupted training at Cobham.
“I don’t think a magician can make a team look exactly how he wants to in the time I’ve been at the club.”
He said that any manager who comes into a club in mid-January takes over about 20 games over the course of 10 busy weeks, which doesn’t leave much time for tactical changes. The Englishman made it clear that changing his philosophy would never mean losing games during the run-in. Chelsea play Manchester City at home on Sunday and then go to Manchester United next weekend.