Chelsea’s problems are exacerbated by Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling’s bans.
Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer, who received bookings on Christmas Eve against Wolves, will miss Chelsea’s home match against Crystal Palace on Wednesday.
The only bright spot on the Blues’ otherwise forgettable day was Christopher Nkunku’s Premier League debut header as they lost 2-1 at Molineux to goals from Mario Lemina and Matt Doherty.
If Chelsea had seized more of the many opportunities they created, it very easily could have been different. One such instance was when Sterling went through on goal with Palmer and Nicolas Jackson to his right and an open goal in front of them, but he timidly shot straight at Jose Sa.
In the loss, Malo Gusto, Conor Gallagher, Jackson, and Sterling all received yellow cards. As a result of their bookings, the England players will be unable to participate in Wednesday’s Premier League match against Palace.
That won’t make things any easier for Mauricio Pochettino, who is already juggling a number of injuries in addition to his struggles with consistency and form.
In addition to missing the loss to Wolves, Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Ben Chilwell, Robert Sanchez, Enzo Fernandez, Trevoh Chalobah, and Carney Chukwuemeka are also probably out next week.
Romeo Lavia, who signed with Chelsea from Southampton over the summer, was on the bench at Molineux, but he is almost ready to make his Chelsea debut.
After Chelsea’s most recent loss, Pochettino stated that they only have themselves to blame for wasted opportunities and shoddy defense.
“We made errors.” We must hold ourselves accountable. It explains why our team lost. We had opportunities to score, Pochettino stated. We fight against ourselves. We didn’t win the game today.
We believe we should have received much more, so we are really disappointed. You get hurt in this competition if your clinical skills are inadequate. We made opportunities. It is really disappointing because of this. It was really tough, but after a few corners, we gave up.
