Chelsea’s medical department intend to conduct their own scans on Álvaro Morata’s hamstring injury later this week, and are hopeful their diagnosis will reveal the damage is not as extensive as that suggested in tests undertaken by the Spanish Football Federation over the weekend.
Morata withdrew from the Spain squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Israel after pulling up in Saturday’s Premier League defeat to Manchester City complaining of discomfort in his left thigh. Chelsea initially substituted him as a precaution, hoping they had averted a serious injury, but the forward travelled to Madrid the following day and underwent an MRI scan at the city’s Sanitas University hospital of La Moraleja which apparently revealed a grade two myofascial injury to his hamstring muscles.
Such an injury can potentially sideline a player for up to six weeks. Yet Morata returned to Cobham on Tuesday and was given an initial assessment by the club’s medical staff, with the player himself confident he can still be fit to feature in Chelsea’s next league game, at bottom-placed Crystal Palace on 14 October. Indeed, the striker took to social media to post a photograph of him in the club’s training gear and declaring: “I have no time to lose! Working hard towards recovery! [Target] Crystal Palace.”
Yet that message was subsequently deleted and it may be that the Palace game would be considered too much of a risk for the player given Chelsea face a further six matches in the subsequent 22 days. Those include two Champions League ties with Roma, a League Cup tie against Everton – in which Morata would have been unlikely to start – and Premier League matches against Watford, Bournemouth and, most critically, Manchester United on Guy Fawkes’ night.
Michy Batshuayi is the only other recognised senior striker in the ranks following Diego Costa’s departure for £57m last week, with the Belgian having scored five goals for Chelsea to date this season including the winner against Atlético Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano last Wednesday. Yet, when Morata pulled up on Saturday, Conte had chosen to fling on Willian in his stead, which perhaps reflects the Belgian’s current standing within the setup.