Alvaro Morata's absence will be a hammerblow for Chelsea, says Pat Nevin
Chelsea suffered their second defeat of the season on Saturday, losing 1-0 at home to Manchester City courtesy of a Kevin de Bruyne strike.
Pep Guardiola’s side have now won five on the bounce and look in formidable form heading into the international break.
And Pat Nevin believes his former side may struggle to keep pace with the early league leaders, especially with Alvaro Morata out injured.
The Spain international pulled up in the first-half against City with a hamstring problem and Nevin thinks his absence could be a hammer-blow for Chelsea.
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“If they keep up their skill levels, speed and style from the start of this season then they will be very hard to catch.
“That does not mean to say it will be impossible, we have a very good-looking league run between now and the end of the calendar year, one in which we could really put some pressure on the current leaders.
“But to do something special in that period we are going to need Alvaro Morata back and hopefully that hamstring problem is only a tweak.
“He certainly seemed to stop immediately after he felt it; it didn’t look like a ‘ping!’ moment as we say in the game.
“The tell-tale signs are familiar to all players and most fans when a hamstring strain is a bad one, so I would be mildly concerned as opposed to genuinely worried, but we will see.”
Initial reports from the Spanish Football Federation are suggesting Morata has suffered a grade two hamstring injury.
No official timescale has been put on the 24-year-old’s return but he is expected to be sidelined for between six and eight weeks.
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