INJURY WOES GIVE CONTE THE BLUES
ANTONIO CONTe believes he has no option but to gamble on the fitness of his players as Chelsea count the cost of their faltering summer.
The Italian’s disappointment with the way Chelsea’s summer transfer window unfolded is well documented.
The Blues missed out on signing a number of Conte’s preferred targets, including Fernando Llorente, Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain and Alex Sandro.
Chelsea, however, still signed six first-team players at a total cost of £ 186million, though they did recoup over £80m in sales.
Nevertheless, the Chelsea manager has raised further questions over the strength of his squad before tonight’s Champions League visit of Roma.
Key men N’Golo Kante and Victor Moses will miss the clash with hamstring injuries, while Danny Drinkwater is yet to train with the first team after arriving from Leicester with a calf injury.
Alvaro Morata, though, is set to start the game just three weeks after suffering a hamstring injury that the Spanish FA feared would rule him out for at least a month.
And Conte claims the strength of his squad means he is forced to risk players picking up injuries, saying: ‘We know our situation. When there are injuries of this type, to important players,players, itit’s s very difficult for us.
‘But there is this situa-situation and now we mustmust be very good to overercome it and try to doo our best. It’s not simple when you don’t have a lot of players like Morata, Kante and now Moses.
‘The problem is we are alwayss playing the samee players. And also we have players who are not used to playing three games in a week.
‘Kante, it’s the first time for him to play. For Moses, the first time. For Morata, it’s the first time to play regularly for his team.
‘When you have a lot of games, you need to rotate players. If this is not possible, I have to take risks. Sometimes the players need to rest instead.
‘The situation is difficult. We have to play every three days and it’s not simple. Also because, in this moment, we are thin and we haveh to play always the same pplayers. ‘Honestly, ththere is this typtype of risk to have other injuries.ries. I hopeh not. But the best wway, now, for us is to go game by game, and then to decide every game which is the best formation and sometimes to take risks.’ Victory for the Blues would virtually guarantee them a place in the Champions League knockout stages. Conte, though, insists he will not be taking a risk with Morata’s hamstring if he decides to start him against Roma. ‘I could have taken risks on Saturday and forced him to play against Crystal Palace but I’m not so stupid,’ explained Conte, who is set to play with a front pairing of Morata and eden Hazard tonight. ‘I’m not taking a risk if I decide Morata can play.’
Another one of Conte’s failed attempted signings — Radja Nainggolan — will line up for Roma against the Blues.
And the Italian manager has confirmed he tried to land the Belgium international, saying: ‘In the past, yes, we tried to buy him. But Nainggolan is Roma’s player and I have great respect for him and for Roma, and also for my players. He’s a really good player.’
Marcos Alonso has pinpointed striker edin Dzeko as Roma’s danger man. Alonso played in Serie A with Fiorentina and believes nullifying the threat of
former Manchester City centre forward Dzeko will be the key.
The 31-year- old has scored 10 goals in 13 appearances for club and country this season and was Serie A top scorer with 29 goals last term, earning a nomination for the Ballon d’Or.
‘Their stand-out player is Edin Dzeko. We have to be very careful with him,’ said Alonso.
Dzeko, who said he expects Chelsea to be ‘angry’ after the Palace defeat, believes he is playing as well as ever. ‘I think I am (better) actually,’ he said. ‘Older, better, like they used to say. I feel good.’