Chelsea were cautious regarding Christopher Nkunku against Preston Town in the FA Cup
Chelsea fans had a scare when Christopher Nkunku was ruled out of the game against Preston North End in the FA Cup third round, which the Blues won convincingly by a scoreline of 4-0.
Goals from Armando Broja, Thiago Silva, Raheem Sterling, and Enzo Fernandez steered the Blues to the fourth round of the FA Cup. After the game, manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed that the Frenchman has suffered a hip injury and would be out for a few games.
However, the RMC report confirms, (h/t Metro), that the forward’s absence against Preston was a precautionary measure, and Nkunku should be available to face Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup semi-final. This is a bonus for the Blues given that they are potentially just three games away from the first piece of silverware in the Todd Boehly era.
The former RB Leipzig player has featured in all four matches before the Preston games, and Chelsea will be assessing Nkunku’s recovery before giving him the green light for the Carabao Cup game.
The 26-year-old has already endured lengthy months on the sidelines with a knee injury he suffered during pre-season that required surgery, which has made the Blues cautious about Nkunku’s recovery.
Chelsea’s injury concerns haven’t gone away and Romeo Lavia is a telling example of the epidemic. There could be many reasons why players keep picking up injuries and aren’t properly fit. This is a new injury for Nkunku, but we are lucky it isn’t serious and he might be available for the next fixture.
We are in the second half of the season, and he has barely played, but our performances have improved of late. Hopefully, Nkunku will be able to play regularly and make a difference on a week to week basis.
Considering Nicolas Jackson has gone to AFCON to represent Senegal now, this indicates how much we will need Nkunku to step up because Armando Broja is far from the infallible goal scorer that we have been crying out for.
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Given his age and experience, Nkunku should start finding the net in subsequent games as we head into an important half of the campaign. There is still much to play for this season and if Nkunku gets firing, we could be in for a memorable end to the 2023/24 campaign.