Chelsea handed Pedro Neto injury blow ahead of Champions League trip to Qarabag | OneFootball

Winger now a doubt for European trip after coming off against Tottenham

And Neto was absent from the group.

Neto was replaced by Estevao in the 85th minute of Saturday’s 1-0 win at Tottenham, and is now a doubt to face Qarabag.

The Chelsea head coach has also been monitoring the fitness of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro.

Maresca admitted the trio have been playing through injuries, but having all starred for the Blues during Saturday’s 1-0 win away to Tottenham, they were present as Chelsea trained ahead of their Champions League clash in Azerbaijan.

There was, however, no sign of long-term injury concerns Cole Palmer, Benoit Badiashile or Dario Essugo.

Palmer and Badiashile aren’t expected back until December, while Essugo is targeting to return by the new year following thigh surgery.

Defender Levi Colwill, meanwhile, is still in the early stages of his recovery from a serious knee injury.

Chelsea have bounced back from their shock defeat to Sunderland with successive victories over Wolves and Tottenham.

Into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals and up to seventh in the Premier League, the Blues will be hoping to make it three successive wins in the Champions League as they look to qualify automatically from the league phase.

After losing their opening league phase game away to Bayern Munich, Chelsea have beaten Benfica and Ajax at Stamford Bridge to leave themselves outside the automatic qualifying spots on goal difference.