December 29, (THEWILL) – Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has expressed concern over the fitness of summer signing Romeo Lavia and winger Mykhailo Mudryk following the Blues’ 2-1 English Premier League victory over Crystal Palace.
After arriving at Stamford Bridge in the summer transfer window for £58 million and being kept sidelined by injuries for the first four months, Lavia finally made his long-awaited Chelsea debut as a second-half substitute against Palace. However, the 19-year-old midfielder was struggling with an unspecified issue by the end of the match and will undergo medical assessments, leaving Pochettino “a little bit worried”.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s big-money January acquisition Mudryk was also substituted with 20 minutes remaining due to an apparent injury. He too will go for scans, adding to the Blues’ fitness fears ahead of their final match of 2023 away to in-form Luton Town on New Year’s Day.
“He [Lavia] feels something, some issue,” said Pochettino. “We need to check and hope it’s not [serious]. Hopefully, it is not a big issue and he can play with us again. Important player that will recover and it is going to be a shame if we cannot use him in the next few games.”
The Chelsea boss called the relegation-battling Hatters a ‘tough test’, demanding his side match Luton’s work rate and desire. “It’s going to be a good test for us. It’s a challenge to be consistent. For us now, it’s to go there and first of all to fight, be clever, be focused and then try to win the game,” he stated.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
