The head coach of Chelsea, Enzo Maresca has affirmed that one of their young players, Estevao Willian will not play the upcoming premier league match against Newcastle United because of a muscular injury. The news was provided after Chelsea won the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup against Cardiff City on Tuesday night.
Maresca disclosed that Estevao had a minor muscle problem that disqualified him to play Saturday in the league. The Chelsea boss clarified that Estevao has a minor muscular issue, which is a light injury. He is not going to be available in the Newcastle match but we are optimistic that he will be fit to play our next game.
This was announced following a hard cup battle at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea was greatly challenged by Cardiff City who had a lot of confidence. Although Cardiff was a League One team, the team came into good shape and was leading the table with a four-point lead after 5 consecutive wins.
Chelsea was not performing in the first half as Cardiff controlled the possession and speed resulting in the important alterations in the strategy by Maresca during the break. Joao Pedro and Alejandro Garnacho came in and Garnacho opened the scoring.
Cardiff has been strong back and has evened the score with a timely reaction by David Turnbull. Pedro Neto later gave Chelsea the edge and Garnacho scored another second goal in the stoppage time before the game was eventually regained.
The loss of Estevao further complicates the selection problems of Maresca at a very vital point in the season. Chelsea manager has been under increasing pressure over the course of the past few weeks, especially following an acknowledgement in the past that the events that followed the 2-0 Premier League win over Everton on Saturday were, in fact, the worst 48 hours in his tenure in the club, attributable to the internal tensions and his perceived lack of support.
Now Chelsea will play Newcastle without the young Brazilian and hope that this young player will be back as early as possible.
