Chelsea defender set to miss FIFA World Cup with “significant” injury

Chelsea confirms injured defender Ben Chilwell will miss the FIFA World Cup

Graham Potter’s Chelsea have look revitalised after a disappointing start to the campaign and one of the major positives of the new era was the form of England left-back Ben Chilwell, who was touted to be a part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad that travels to Qatar this month for the FIFA World Cup.

However, the left wing-back’s dreams of making the team for Qatar came to a halt when he was injured in the stoppage time of the last UEFA Champions League Group Stage encounter against Dinamo Zagreb.

According to Football London, his injury is worse than feared and scans on his hamstring have given out results of a significant injury, which would surely end his hope of making the national team for the World Cup.

A statement from Chelsea read:

“Following the injury sustained in our recent game against Dinamo Zagreb, Ben has undergone a scan on his hamstring.

Results show that Ben has suffered a significant injury and the defender is unfortunately expected to miss the World Cup.”

It is a disappointing end for the defender who could have played a big part in England’s quest for the prestigious cup. After all, his role as a wingback for Chelsea is in consonance with how Southgate usually deploys his teams.

Southgate must be wondering what is happening with fullbacks at Chelsea as first, an important player Reece James was declared seriously injured and is a big doubt for the World Cup and now it is confirmed that Chilwell would not be able to recover in time to be in contention for the tournament.

Chilwell was one of the early signings of the Frank Lampard era in the first window after the one-year transfer ban and looked like Chelsea have found a young and dynamic full-back that would be an integral part of the team for years to come.

However, his time at Chelsea has had both good and bad moments and he has been sidelined for a large portion due to serious and recurring injuries, therefore not really being able to stack a claim as the first choice in his position.

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When Chelsea signed Marc Cucurellla this summer, it was felt that this would have a direct impact on Chilwell’s game time and opportunities, however, up till now, Chilwell was able to fight the competition and get the nod ahead of his teammate.

It is rather befitting that in a game which held comparatively little significance for us as we had already qualified for the knockout rounds, the club and the player actually came out on the losing side with a serious injury during the end moments.