Moises Caicedo missed Chelsea’s Christmas Eve clash at Wolves (Photo: Getty)
Moises Caicedo was surprisingly missing from Chelsea’s matchday squad for their clash at Wolves on Christmas Eve.
With the fixtures coming thick and fast during the festive period, it was expected that Mauricio Pochettino would rotate his team for the trip to Molineux.
And the manager has made three changes to the side that defeated Newcastle on penalties in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
Malo Gusto, Lesley Ugochukwu and Armando Broja come in for Benoit Badiashile, Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, as the Blues appeared to line-up as a 4-4-2.
While Fernandez’s absence was already known about, Caicedo not even making the bench has raised eyebrows and left fans worried that yet another player has fallen foul to injury.
The club’s record-signing played the full 90 minutes against the Magpies but reports claim that the defensive midfielder has now fallen ill and did not travel to Molineux.
Pochettino confirmed the news ahead of kick-off, saying: ‘Moises Caicedo has a high fever so he is not involved today.’
Lesley Ugochukwu took Caicedo’s place in the starting XI (Photo: Getty)
Illness is what has also ruled Fernandez out, while it is said that Badiashile has been struggling with a bug but he was named on the bench against Wolves.
Fans will be hoping that Caicedo gets back to full fitness in time for Chelsea’s next game on the 27th December when they take on Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.
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Explaining his line-up, Pochettino added: ‘We have the possibility to play with Armando and Nicolas Jackson together today and also Malo Gusto comes in as a more offensive full-back, with Axel Disasi moving inside.
‘We try to find the best solutions when we lose players and we are looking for the right combinations today, while still keeping a good balance.’
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