Chelsea pair Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic were forced off in Serbia’s win over Albania on Thursday night, but the Blues aren’t the only side with injury problems.
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Branislav Ivanovic substituted with a hamstring injury with Serbia 0-0 in Albania. Dusko Tosic comes on.
Both players need to be assessed by Chelsea’s medical team and are doubtful versus Aston Villa, when the Premier League resumes on October 17th. The injury to the duo will be cause for further concern for Jose Mourinho, who is under increasing pressure to turn things around at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho has however been reluctant to make this change and claimed Ivanovic remains the best right-back at Chelsea.
While fans and pundits have called for Ivanovic in particular to be replaced before his current injury, Mourinho has stuck by him as he feels summer signing Baba Rahman is not yet ready to cope with the physical nature of the English top flight. The Special One is looking to play UK U21 Ruben Loftus-Cheek more, but Matic still has an important role to play in Chelsea’s busy schedule.
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Rahman could now get his chance at his favourite left-back position while regular Cesar Azpilicueta is restored to his original right-back position as a replacement for the injured Ivanovic.
