Chelsea boss gives worrying reason behind Christopher Nkunku’s absence vs Preston

Mauricio Pochettino confirms Christopher Nkunku sustained hip injury in training before Chelsea vs Preston match

Mauricio Pochettino says Christopher Nkunku has suffered a hip injury, which saw the forward miss out on Chelsea’s game vs. Preston Town in the FA Cup third round.

The Blues convincingly won the game 4-0 after goals from Armando Broja, Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling, and Enzo Fernandez following a disappointing first half.

It was another great win for the Argentine manager’s side, but it came with another blow after Blues’ star signing Nkunku was not in the squad to face Preston.

Questions were raised about why the former RB Leipzig forward missed the game and we got an answer from Pochettino during the post-match press conference,(h/t Mirror), and he said:

“When we talk about the case of Nkunku, we don’t want to put pressure on him. We know it is difficult to recover after being injured for a long time. Six months away is always tough. Like now, he wasn’t involved because he suffered a problem in his hip after training yesterday, and we need to see if he can be ready for the next few games. That is the problem.”

When Pochettino says we don’t want to put pressure on this player or that player he is trying to alert the media to the fact that these players are recovering from long-term injuries and may need a month or even a season to get back into the swing of things. This is because certain steps must be taken before a player can regain their groove when they return to the field.

Now Nkunku has picked up a new injury, and Pochettino’s words confirm that it doesn’t look that serious and he should be fit for the next games, but let’s see because anything can happen and he might suffer another injury setback.

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Since Nkunku hasn’t played much this season due to injuries, we should proceed with caution. Now that Nicolas Jackson has left for the AFCON, Nkunku will be more important than ever if we want to contend for the top four slots.