Chelsea's Christian Pulisic injured on international duty

Chelsea are sweating over the fitness of Christian Pulisic after the winger picked up an ankle injury on international duty with the United States.

After drawing with El Salvador (0-0) and Canada (1-1) in their opening two matches, the USMNT finally picked up their first win of the new World Cup qualifying campaign, beating Honduras 4-1 on Wednesday night.

Pulisic was clearly in pain after the knock | Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images

Pulisic was in exciting form at Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, completing six of his nine attempted dribbles, hitting one shot on target and creating one chance for his teammates.

But the 22-year-old landed awkwardly on his ankle following a collision with former Wigan Athletic and Hull City defender Maynor Figueroa in the second half. Though he tried to play on, Pulisic was eventually replaced by Seattle Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan in the 62nd minute.

After the match, USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter revealed he and his staff were unsure about the extent of the injury and that more will be revealed when Pulisic is assessed in London.

“Christian has a slight ankle injury,” said Berhalter. “We’re going to get more info on it when he goes back to London, the severity of it.”

Pulisic joined a lengthy injury list for the USMNT, who were also without the likes of Timothy Weah and Zack Steffen for various fitness and health concerns, while both Gio Reyna and Sergino Dest were forced out of the camp.

Chelsea face Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday before they begin the defence of their Champions League title at home to Zenit on Tuesday.

Alongside Pulisic, the Blues face an anxious wait over the fitness of N'Golo Kante, while right-back Reece James is suspended. Romelu Lukaku was a doubt with a thigh issue but trained on Thursday and is in contention to face the Villans.

Thiago Silva is also unlikely to be available after the Brazilian FA asked FIFA to impose a five-day ban on Premier League clubs who refused to release players for international duty due to concerns over travel to countries currently on the UK's coronavirus red list.


Source : 90min