Thiago Silva out for six weeks to add to Chelsea woes

Chelsea centerback Thiago Silva will miss over a month with the latest injury to hit Stamford Bridge. Silva joins Christian Pulisic, N’golo Kante, Cesar Azpilicueta, Armando Broja and Edouard Mendy as players out for an extended period of time.

Silva’s injury is to his knee, with the club stating he injured ligaments in his left knee during the 2-0 loss at Tottenham on Sunday. As a result, club doctors ruled out the Brazilian for an estimated six weeks. In the near future, that rules the centerback out of pivotal games at home against Leeds in the Premier League and Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League.

Chelsea released a statement stating that Thiago Silva will work closely with the club’s medical staff to return to fitness. The Guardian estimates that time away to border on six weeks.

Silva has been a mainstay in Graham Potter’s side this season, featuring in 21 out of 24 Premier League games. He started each of those 21. As a result, he has been witnessing Chelsea’s immense struggles this season. Since the beginning of 2023, Chelsea has one win in nine league games, a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

Thiago Silva the latest Chelsea injury

Assuredly, some of that struggling is because of the aforementioned names unavailable to Graham Potter. However, losses to Southampton and Fulham and draws against Nottingham Forest and West Ham are inexcusable. It is a dark day for Chelsea, especially considering the club spent record fees in the January transfer window to solve the issues.

However, the one silver lining for Chelsea is that some of these injury woes are lessening. Christian Pulisic, sidelined since early January, returned to Chelsea training before the Tottenham loss. Same goes for N’golo Kante, as both could be available for the club’s next fixture against Leeds.

Chelsea is desperate for points just to get back into European qualification. As of the end of February, Chelsea is 14 points out of fourth and eight outside of sixth, which would be good enough for the Europa Conference League.

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