AC Milan have been dealt a massive injury blow ahead of their Champions League clash against Chelsea, in what is almost a must win game against the Italian champions for Graham Potter's side.
Having only taken one point from the first two group stage games, losing to Dinamo Zagreb and drawing with RB Salzburg, Potter will be under pressure to secure a first win when he plays the next match at Stamford Bridge on October 5th.
Although the game is still two weeks away, the importance of it cannot be overstated. Chelsea really need to be taking four points from the next two matches - home and away ties against Milan - and would be under extreme scrutiny to win at the San Siro should they fail to pick up three points at Stamford Bridge.
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The game will be Potter's third in charge after seeing matches against Fulham and Liverpool postponed, but his team already have a slight edge going into it with the fitness concerns surrounding Milan's star left-back Theo Hernandez.
The 24-year-old, who assisted for Olivier Giroud's goal against Napoli at the weekend, was unable to join up with his international teammates for Nations League duty due to an injury in his right adductor, Goal France are reporting. It comes as Aston Villa's Lucas Digne, who was called up in place of Hernandez, also dropped out to leave Didier Deschamps' side short of players after a host of other star players suffered injuries in the lead up to the games.
Further reports in Italy from Gazzetta Milan claim that Hernandez will definitely miss the game against Empoli on October 1st, the same day Chelsea face Crystal Palace in the Premier League, with the trip to London later that week now also in doubt.
Hernandez did play all of the 2-1 loss to Napoli but has since struggled with the injury that could rule him out. France teammate N'Golo Kante will likely remain a doubt for Chelsea which is a blow for Potter, but the Blues need every slice of luck they can get at the moment after a poor start to the season have left them some way off the pace in the league and Europe as well.
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