Challenges from the 'storm' of injuries

The season has passed the warm-up stage, and now it is time for Premier League teams to have a headache solving problems related to force issues due to injuries.

Both Chelsea (left) and Liverpool have depleted forces - Photo: REUTERS

On the evening of October 18, Chelsea will open round 8 of the Premier League with an unpredictable away match at Nottingham Forest.

Decline due to coach change

Nottingham Forest - the "dark horse" of last season - has declined after the "madness" of noisy chairman Evangelos Marinakis. The Greek billionaire suddenly fired coach Nuno Santo - who led the team to success, to appoint Angie Postecoglou - who has a very different football philosophy. As a result, Nottingham Forest has declined miserably.

Before sacking coach Nuno Santo, Nottingham Forest had lost 1 match this season (after 3 rounds). And since coach Postecoglou arrived, they lost 3 and drew 1 in the next 4 rounds. From being a "dark horse", this traditional team has now become a potential candidate for a relegation spot.

But no matter how bad Nottingham Forest is, Chelsea fans dare not be subjective at this time.

Chelsea worried about injuries in defense

The English team had a fun 2 weeks with a dramatic and satisfying victory over Liverpool in round 7, right before FIFA Days.

But it was also a bitter victory for Chelsea, as they were left without any central defenders in the final minutes of the match. The reason? All were injured, despite the number of central defenders Chelsea had at the start of the season was 6.

After the match, Chelsea fans received some positive news, as Badiashile and Acheampong only suffered minor injuries, while Chalobah will return after suspension.

But even so, Chelsea's absentee list still reaches 6-7 people when Palmer, Tosin, Essugo and Delap have not recovered, while Colwill and Fofana have confirmed that they will be absent for a long time. Even Enzo Fernandez, who is currently playing in Palmer's position, has shown signs of instability.

Chelsea are facing an injury storm, and things could get worse in the coming time as they stretch themselves across many arenas.

Arsenal, Liverpool suffer because of World Cup qualifiers

Not only Chelsea, Arsenal are also worried when the attack line has received bad news recently. After Madueke, Odegaard has confirmed that he has a serious injury and will be out until the end of October.

Arsenal had previously lost Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz due to long-term injuries. Despite having a strong squad, the constant loss of players in each round has haunted Gunners fans.

Liverpool, the team with the least injuries in the past year, is also getting a headache. In the past month, the "Red Brigade" has received consecutive bad news about its squad.

They lost Leoni - the reserve center back until the end of the season, then lost Alisson and Endo before the FIFA Days series. And when they joined the national team, Konate and Gravenberch were also injured.

That is the inevitable consequence when the competition schedule is getting more and more dense, with the World Cup qualifying stage entering the final stage. The pillars of the big clubs are often also the pillars of the national team. Like Van Dijk - who is 34 years old but has played every minute of his 7 appearances in the past month.

And if you count from the start of the season, Van Dijk has played 14 full matches in just 2 months. The Dutch centre-back only has about 2 and a half days between matches to rest, recover and train. And remember he suffered a torn ligament injury.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thach-thuc-tu-bao-chan-thuong-20251018102621954.htm