{"id":639471,"date":"2024-05-06T13:10:41","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=639471"},"modified":"2024-05-06T13:10:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:10:41","slug":"chelsea-injury-boost-europa-league-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/05\/06\/chelsea-injury-boost-europa-league-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Eyeing Massive Fitness Boost in Race for Europa League\u00a0Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea welcomed back six players from injury as they thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Sunday. The Blues are expecting more positive news on the injury front as they prepare for their final three matches of the season.<\/p>\n<h2>Chelsea Squad Size Grows as Europa League Race Heats Up<\/h2>\n<h3>A Crucial Win<\/h3>\n<p>Chelsea went into their mid-week win over Tottenham with 14 injuries. However, their matchday squad against West Ham on Sunday revealed six players were ready to make their returns to the pitch.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/05\/01\/chelsea-ian-maatsen-dortmund-stay\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018Very Happy\u2019 Chelsea Star Eyeing Bundesliga Stay After Loan Spell<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thiago Silva was back in the starting lineup, surviving a major injury scare that was initially thought to have ended his season. Pochettino also included Christopher Nkunku, Raheem Sterling, Malo Gusto, Axel Disasi, and Levi Colwill in his squad against the Hammers.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea revived their chances of claiming a Europa League spot with a stunning 5-0 victory over their London rivals, with Gusto, Disasi and Nkunku all coming off the bench in the second half.<\/p>\n<h3>More Returns?<\/h3>\n<p>Following the injury returns against West Ham, Chelsea\u2019s injury list has shrunk from 14 to eight players. <strong>Wesley Fofana<\/strong>, <strong>Romeo Lavia<\/strong> and <strong>Enzo Fernandez<\/strong> are not expected to feature again this term.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/04\/29\/chelsea-benjamin-sesko-transfer-interest-remains\/\" target=\"_self\">Fabrizio Romano: Blues Remain Keen On Signing \u2018Spectacular\u2019 Bundesliga Forward<\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, the Blues have five more players who could make their returns before the end of the season.<strong> Robert Sanchez<\/strong>,<strong> Reece James<\/strong> and<strong> Lesley Ugochukwu<\/strong> are already back in partial training. Things don\u2019t look as promising for <strong>Ben Chilwell<\/strong> and <strong>Carney Chukwuemeka<\/strong>, but they are both pushing for late comebacks.<\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s Next for Chelsea?<\/h3>\n<p>Crucial derby wins over Tottenham and West Ham have revived Pochettino\u2019s hopes of finishing fifth in the Premier League. The Athletic journalist David Ornstein <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NBCSportsSoccer\/status\/1787105669537022006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">believes<\/a> that failing to qualify for the Europa League will result in the 52-year-old\u2019s sacking ahead of the next season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/04\/23\/fluminense-move-chelsea-thiago-silva\/\" target=\"_self\">Brazilian Club Eyeing Summer Move For \u2018Incredible\u2019 Blues Defender<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Chelsea will have six days to rest before their next league game against Nottingham Forest next Saturday.\u00a0Pochettino\u2019s men will take on Brighton\u00a0four days later\u00a0before hosting Bournemouth in their final game of the campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea welcomed back six players from injury as they thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Sunday. The Blues are expecting more positive news on the injury front as they prepare for their final three matches of the season. Chelsea Squad Size Grows as Europa League Race Heats Up A Crucial Win Chelsea went into their mid-week [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5073,"featured_media":636706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1830,30,3],"tags":[9924,3571,7799],"class_list":["post-639471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-injuries","category-news","category-premier-league","tag-lesley-ugochukwu","tag-reece-james","tag-robert-sanchez"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}