Chelsea have been dealt an injury blow ahead of Liverpool’s visit to Stamford Bridge on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
As per The Mirror, a knee problem forced Christopher Nkunku out of the Blues’ friendly against Borussia Dortmund midway through the first half, potentially putting his involvement for the visit of Jurgen Klopp’s side in 10 days’ time into doubt.
Speaking about the body blow after the match in Chicago last night, Mauricio Pochettino said of the striker: “The doctors are checking him. He had the chance to score but he feels something in his knee. Hopefully it is not a big issue and that he can be quick with the team.
“We need a few days to assess him and until we get back to London it is difficult to know. Always we take some risks because the pitch is not perfect as they are using it for different sports and that is sometimes the risk of the tour.
“I think it was a bit unlucky in the situation but we cannot complain about the pitch and to blame the pitch for why he suffered the injury. For me, it was bad luck.”
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Having signed Nkunku from RB Leipzig for £52m earlier this year (The Mirror), and with the 25-year-old scoring 58 goals for the German club over the past two seasons (Transfermarkt), it’d be a big blow for Chelsea to be deprived of his services when Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge.
The Reds may have had a concern of their own yesterday when Alexis Mac Allister went down during the 4-3 defeat to Bayern Munich in Singapore, but Klopp confirmed afterwards that none of his players were injured as they prepared to fly back to England.
Even if Nkunku isn’t fit to feature on 13 August, LFC could have another summer signing of whom they’ll need to be wary in Nicolas Jackson, who’s logged two goals and three assists in pre-season for the Blues (Sofascore).
Goals have been at a premium in recent meetings between Chelsea and Liverpool, with the last four clashes between them all ending goalless (excluding penalties), so both Pochettino and Klopp will be yearning for their teams’ attackers to end that curious sequence on Sunday week.
Even though Nkunku’s potential absence would be a setback for the Blues and could indirectly help the Merseysiders, we never like to see players suffering injuries, and we hope to see the 25-year-old back on the pitch soon.
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