West Ham handed a huge injury advantage ahead of this weekend’s London derby.
With injuries to both Edson Alvarez, Niclas fullkrug, and Emerson already this season, it’s fair to say West Ham haven’t had the best of luck when it comes to injuries so far.
Fortunately, Alvarez has already returned from his hamstring injury, while both Fullkrug’s and Emerson’s are minor with them potentially being available this weekend.
However, Chelsea have had their fair share of injuries problems for well over a season now. Some of their big signings were sidelined early into their career at Stamford Bridge.
Undoubtedly the most frustrating of these from a Chelsea point of view is Romeo Lavia. The former Southampton star cost the Blues a whopping £60 million, but he’s only played two Premier League games since joining.
Although he looked like he was over this long-term injury, he was once again forced into rehabilitation after just one match back.
Alongside him, one of their most important players from last season, Gusto, has been unavailable.
Chelsea fans were unsurprisingly ecstatic to see both Lavia and Gusto back in training, with many believing they could be available to play against our Irons on Saturday. Thankfully, this isn’t the case, as confirmed by a social media post from the Blues’ X account. “Romeo Lavia and Malo Gusto continued their rehabilitation on Tuesday with another modified session as they continue their recovery from injury.“
This is a huge boost to West Ham who are in desperate need of a win against their London rivals. Hopefully Julen Lopetegui is able to capitalise on this brilliant opportunity to really get his career in claret and blue moving in the right direction.