Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Christopher Nkunku will not be fit for the Blues for the EFL Cup tie against Blackburn tomorrow.
He claimed in his pre-match press conference that he will also not have a chance of being fit for Monday’s Premier League game against Tottenham.
Chelsea will be looking to bounce back tomorrow from the tough loss at home to Brentford, where frustrations of last season began to sneak back in.
While results haven’t always been there, until this weekend the performances at least have been of a much higher standard.
They have been doing this without one of their marquee additions, particularly in attack, over the summer.
Nkunku is yet to feature since the last pre-season game of the summer as he suffered a serious injury whilst representing his side across the pond.
He was becoming quite a consistent goalscorer in that time too, with his presence in front of goal being missed so far.
There was positivity last week when Pochettino hinted that the France international was pushing towards a return, with the international break in a few weeks’ time providing another break from club football.
Nkunku out of tomorrow and Spurs game
However, the Argentine has now hushed thoughts that he could be pushing towards coming back in the next few games.
He said: “Mudryk maybe [for Monday vs Spurs]. Nkunku, no.”
Perhaps unintentionally, there now seems to be a lot of pressure being placed on the shoulders of the former RB Leipzig man for when he does return to club football.
It will be interesting to see in particular which members of the first team he strikes a connection with quickly. During pre-season, it was out-of-form forward Nicolas Jackson who he was playing the best alongside.
Whether it will be both alongside each other or one or the other when he is back though remains to be seen.
