08 March 2024 , 01:00
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Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell is set to see a specialist after suffering another injury setback.
The Champions League winner will miss Monday's Stamford Bridge clash with Newcastle United having made just 18 appearances this term. Chilwell was out for the final three months of 2023 with a hamstring injury and now has a knee injury.
The 27-year-old has struggled with hamstring issues in the last two seasons and missed 45 matches in 2021/22 after tearing his ACL. Mauricio Pochettino was cautious in revealing too much about his most recent injury but admitted it was an issue with his knee that emerged following the draw with Brentford.
He said in his press conference ahead of Newcastle: "We need to wait until he sees the specialist. I cannot go in advance. I hope it's not a big issue but in this moment after eight or nine months with the club, I prefer to be cautious and wait."
The west London side have dealt with significant injury issues across 2023/24, with the likes of Christopher Nkunku, Reece James and Romeo Lavia all featuring sparingly across the season. Chilwell was not the only player added to the injury list ahead of the meeting with the Magpies.
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Levi Colwill has seen toe issues rule him out of Monday's match, while Conor Gallagher's availability is uncertain as the midfielder suffers with illness. The Cobham product has not featured in training in recent days and Pochettino did not appear entirely optimistic about is return.
The former Spurs boss said: "He is still not here. In the last three days of training, he is not here. We will see on Saturday or tomorrow if he can be with the possibility to train.
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was asked about the club's annual financial results (Getty Images)"The problem with this kind of situation is you lose weight, the energy is always down, you need time to recover and see if it can be possible to be available and in which level you can be available. We need to assess him in the next few days."
The west London side are also without Benoit Badiashihle, Wesley Fofana and Lesley Ugochukwu, while Nkunku, James and Lavia remain out. Carney Chukwuemeka is nearing a return as he makes his way back to first team training.