Why Chelsea fans will all be watching Moises Caicedo extra closely in Arsenal and Aston Villa games | OneFootball

Chelsea have a lot to worry about with 11 games left to play. They’ve got the hardest remaining fixtures of any club in the Premier League, and a lot of competition for the top 5.

The last thing they need is to lose perhaps their most important player for two games – but it looks very likely at this point. Moises Caicedo has reached 8 yellows for the season, and given the role he plays and how competitive our remaining fixtures are, he looks bound to pick up two more and suffer a two game ban.

If he gets booked against Arsenal and Aston Villa, he would miss our games against Newcastle and Everton.

Why Caicedo must do all he can to stay out of the book

Moises Caicedo puts in a meaty slider. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Knowing that we’re very likely to have two games running without him, it’s vital to try and get his replacements up to speed. Both Dario Essugo and Romeo Lavia were in training this week, and will be doing their best to be ready to play first team minutes as soon as possible.

In the worst case, as above, they’d be needed for games on the 14th against Newcastle and 21st against Everton. But if Caicedo can just keep himself to a maximum of one yellow in the Arsenal and Villa games, the international break following the Everton game comes into play, and those two would suddenly have a much easier time being ready to play.

In other news…

A year ago today there was major trouble brewing at Stamford Bridge as fans rejected Enzo Maresca’s playing out from the back philosophy.

Estevao’s absence against Burnley felt like it really hurt Chelsea, who missed his creativity and threat in the final third. We hope he’s back soon.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here: