Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior has confirmed there is no clear timetable for left back Marc Cucurella after the player picked up a hamstring problem.<\/p>\n
Cucurella was absent for the midweek FA Cup victory over Hull City, with the club confirming he was not available for selection. Rosenior was candid about the uncertainty surrounding the defender’s recovery. \u201cAt the moment, he\u2019s not available,\u201d Rosenior reflected. \u201cThere\u2019s an issue with his hamstring. I don\u2019t know. I can\u2019t give you a time frame on it at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given Cucurella\u2019s status as a near-permanent starter when fit, Chelsea are expected to avoid any unnecessary risk in his return. That approach makes it likely he will miss the coming weekend\u2019s trip to face 19th-placed Burnley, who suffered a shock FA Cup fourth-round defeat to mid-table League One side Mansfield Town on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The sequence of fixtures after Burnley is the greater concern for Rosenior. On Sunday, March 1, Chelsea head to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in a game that could carry significant implications for both the title race and the battle for Champions League qualification. Losing Cucurella for that match would be a notable setback.<\/p>\n
Chelsea also have matches against Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Everton before the international break, then face both Manchesters City and United on the other side of it. The accumulation of demanding opponents means the club will be wary of a prolonged absence for Cucurella.<\/p>\n
For now, Rosenior\u2019s assessment leaves the left-back\u2019s availability unclear and places additional emphasis on squad management as Chelsea navigate a congested and consequential run of fixtures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cucurella sidelined with a hamstring problem; Rosenior offers no timetable ahead of key fixtures….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,969],"tags":[1305,1304,1047],"class_list":["post-6880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-premier-league","tag-bench-selection","tag-benching","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}