Good news for Chelsea, upcoming CL rivals see injury crisis worsen

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It’s difficult not to feel for Roma right now given their injury problems, but ultimately it’s good news for Chelsea with plenty at stake in their Champions League group.

The two sides played out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge last week, while Chelsea visit the Stadio Olimpico in the reverse fixture on Tuesday.

While the Italian giants currently trail the Blues by two points in Group C, a win for the hosts in the Italian capital would really shake up the standings especially if Atletico Madrid claim a win over Qarabag.

Emerson Palmieri and Kostas Manolas were key absentees in the first meeting between the two sides, the former suffering with a long-term injury, and now coach Eusebio Di Francesco has an even bigger headache.

As noted by Calciomercato, not only did summer signing Rick Karsdorp suffer a hugely upsetting torn ACL on his return to action, but both Gregoire Defrel and Bruno Peres limped off in the 1-0 win over Bologna on Saturday night.

Defrel isn’t such a big loss as Diego Perotti will likely start against Chelsea, but losing Peres is a setback without doubt as he was replaced by Hector Moreno this weekend.

It really does complicate matters for Di Francesco while it’ll take time for the Roma players to deal with the growing injury list, and they’ll be desperate to avoid it being costly to their campaign at this early stage.

The Giallorossi still have plenty of quality running through the squad, but ultimately they could have done without these setbacks in October which will really test the depth of their group moving forward.

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