Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic will not get the chance, on Monday night, to face the club he most favored as a boy.ย Pulisic, who has been out of action since New Year’s Day with an adductor injury, and a setback in the recovery process suffered a couple weeks ago, has been ruled out of the Premier League fixture against Manchester United.
The 21-year-old American, who came on a substitute late in the reverse fixture on opening day, is training with the under-23s ahead of his return to the first team. Blues boss Frank Lampard also ruled out another key player while revealing another first team guy is a doubt.
“Christian trained with the U23s today, so won’t be fit,” Lampard said at his news conference today.
“Ruben [Loftus-Cheek]ย won’t be fit for this game.ย Tammy [Abraham]ย is still feeling the effects, to be honest. He trained today, but is to be assessed.”
In other Chelsea winger news, the team announced yesterday the acquisition of Ajax man Hakim Ziyech, who will join the London club at the end of the season. Lampard commented on the new transfer market buy:
“He has the ability to make assists and score goals. We have had a lot of the ball, but not the final ball. Hopefully he can bring that next season.”
“He will have to fit in the way we want to play here, but the quality will hopefully be there to see. I had been watching him a lot. I was impressed against him at Tottenham last season.”
“We want to bring in good people and he ticks a lot of boxes. I’m delighted.”
United will get a boost by the return of Scott McTominay, who came back to full first team training this week.
We could also see the debut of January transfer window addition Odion Ighalo in this one.
Manchester United at Chelsea FC FYIs
February 17, 8pm, Stamford Bridge
Team news for both sides, Starting XI predictions: Coming tomorrow
TV, Streaming, Referee Info: Coming tomorrow
Form Guide: Chelseaย ย DDLWLย ย ย Manchester Unitedย ย DLLWL
Probabilities via Google: Chelsea win 50%,ย Draw 27%,ย Manchester United win 23%
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered withย News Now.ย Banks, the author ofย โNo,ย ย I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,โ regularly appears onย WGN CLTVย and co-hosts theย โLetโs Get Weird, Sportsโ podcastย onย SB Nation.ย
You can follow Banks, a former writer forย NBC Chicago.comย andย Chicago Tribune.comย onย Twitter hereย and hisย cat on Instagram at this link
