Enzo Maresca names three new Chelsea injuries in devastating Benfica team news | OneFootball

It was one of those weird press conferences today where the manager is asked about all sorts of things other than the actual football.

Amongst questions about pictures of Jose Mourinho on the wall, Enzo Maresca did at least get to answer one question about the game tomorrow. It was a pretty devasting answer to a question about any team news.

Enzo Maresca drops triple injury bombshell

Enzo Maresca answers awkward questions about Jose Mourinho.

“Unfortunately we have many players out injured,” Maresca said. He wasn’t just referring to those already missing – which includes star man Cole Palmer, our best defender Levi Colwill and second choice striker Liam Delap.

There are a new swathe of players to put on the list:

“This afternoon we are going to assess Caicedo, Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos. Unfortunately for us they all have small problems. We are going to see if they are available for tomorrow.”

We’re not surprised to hear that Caicedo and Joao Pedro are now struggling. They’ve been massively overused in this season so far, straight from a busy summer. It was only a matter of time before they broke down.

Let’s take the worst case scenario – if all three of them are missing, plus those already listed above, plus Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana – we’re in big trouble. We’d be without both of our two best central defenders, two of our three best central midfielders, our two best strikers. The whole spine of the team, shattered.

Chelsea down to bare bones for Benfica clash

We’re not sure what team we’d even put out tomorrow against Benfica, but we wouldn’t fancy their chances much. At this rate, we’re going to be starting our long awaited return to the Champions League with two defeats. We could be out of it before we even have our bearings.