The seven players who could miss Chelsea vs Bournemouth
A total of seven players could be sidelined through injury as Chelsea host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
That number could have been much, much higher, but the international break has been kind to Chelsea.
Three weeks ago, it seemed they could come into this fixture without the aid of Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro, Reece James, Moises Caicedo, or Marco Palestra, but Xabi Alonso confirmed on Friday that the five are all “ready to go.”
The Blues were also fortunate that injury scares for Mike Penders and Romeo Lavia during the international break both turned out to be nothing serious.
Jamie Gittens was the only major casualty Chelsea faced over the past three weeks. He picked up an ankle injury while representing England’s Under-21s and is facing “a few weeks” out.
Bournemouth are not quite so fortunate, and will be without a key player in Alex Scott as they trek north to Stamford Bridge.
The midfielder, whom Chelsea attempted to buy in the summer, wowed as he made his England debut against Croatia, but suffered an injury in doing so that will leave him sidelined for at least a month.
“It's an injury from a muscle, and we'll do pictures [scans] in some days again,” Cherries head coach Marco Rose said on Thursday.
“But we're going to miss him, for sure, for four or five weeks. I'm very disappointed and it's a big loss.
“We miss a very important player, but I don't want to blame anyone.
“We are very happy that he made his debut for the English national team. He did well and we just hope that he is getting fit again quite soon.”
Elsewhere, Eli Junior Kroupi remains sidelined with the same foot injury which has prevented him from featuring for Bournemouth so far this campaign.
Julian Araujo remains out with a thigh injury, as does Julian Kluivert, who has a minor muscle injury. Amine Adli is a doubt with a calf problem.
Veljko Milosavljevic completes the absentees, with a muscular injury of his own. David Brooks, however, is in contention after skipping Wales duty in the international break.