Chelsea have been dealt a major setback as Moises Caicedo has been ruled out of their Premier League match against Bournemouth due to a knee injury. The Ecuadorian midfielder, who joined the Blues for a record £150 million in the summer, picked up the knock while on international duty and is not in the squad for the trip to the Vitality Stadium12.
Caicedo has been one of the few bright spots for Chelsea this season, scoring three goals and providing two assists in four league appearances. His absence adds to the injury woes of Mauricio Pochettino, who is already without several key players such as Reece James, Christopher Nkunku, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia3.
Pochettino has also made some surprising changes to his starting XI, dropping Ben Chilwell to the bench and handing a rare start to Mykhailo Mudryk. The Ukrainian winger will play in a more advanced role than Chilwell, who has been one of Chelsea’s most consistent performers this season4.
Another shock inclusion is Lesley Ugochukwu, who makes his first start for the club in midfield. The 18-year-old Frenchman joined Chelsea from Rennes in July and has impressed Pochettino with his performances in training and in the Carabao Cup5.
Pochettino explained his decisions to Sky Sports before the game, saying: “We want to play with Mudryk in the position we normally use to play Chilwell. We want to play with a more offensive player, and of course keeping the same back four with Malo Gusto, Thiago Silva, Axel [Disasi] and Levi [Colwill].”
“Caicedo arrived back from international duty with a knock in his knee. We need to assess him in the next few days but he wasn’t available for today and that’s why he not here with the team.”
“Ugochukwu is a young player with a lot of potential and quality. He has shown that he can play at this level and he deserves this opportunity.”
Chelsea are looking for their second league win of the season, after losing 3-1 to West Ham and 1-0 to Nottingham Forest before the international break. They are currently 11th in the table, 10 points behind leaders Manchester City6.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last four games and sit seventh in the standings. They have scored 10 goals in their last two matches, thrashing Norwich 5-0 and Southampton 5-27.
