England are facing problems at left-back after further tests on Ben Chilwell’s hamstring injury revealed the Chelsea defender is set to spend at least two months on the sidelines.
Chilwell had been hoping for positive news after limping off at the end of Chelsea’s win over Brighton last week. However, the 26‑year‑old faces a battle to be back for the festive period.
Chelsea have struggled with injuries this season and Mauricio Pochettino will hope Chilwell can return before the end of December. Pochettino’s vice-captain was ruled out of last year’s World Cup with a torn hamstring and missed the end of last season after picking up a strain. The news will come as a huge setback to Chilwell, who would have been included when the England squad is announced on Thursday for a friendly against Australia and Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy.
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Gareth Southgate is already without his first-choice left-back, Manchester United’s Luke Shaw, and is concerned about a lack of options in that area. Chilwell deputised for Shaw during England’s draw with Ukraine last month, with Kieran Trippier starting on the left against Scotland three days later. Possible replacements for Chilwell include Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell and Newcastle’s Dan Burn but Brentford’s Rico Henry is out for the season. Levi Colwill, the Chelsea centre-back, has regularly been used as a left-back by Pochettino this season and was part of the last England squad.
Colwill started on the left during Chelsea’s victory over Fulham on Monday night and created the opening goal for Mykhailo Mudryk. Pochettino can also call upon Ian Maatsen and Marc Cucurella, although the Spaniard has been filling in for the injured Reece James and the suspended Malo Gusto at right-back.
Eberechi Eze’s hopes of playing for England this month are also over after the Crystal Palace midfielder sustained a hamstring injury that could keep him out for six weeks. Eze, who made his senior debut against Malta in June and won his second cap as a substitute against Scotland last month, was replaced two minutes before full time in Palace’s win over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday. The 25-year-old had previously played every minute of Palace’s Premier League matches this season.
Palace are understood to be concerned about the extent of the problem given their growing injury list and fear the influential playmaker could be out for as long as six weeks. That would rule Eze out of their meeting with Nottingham Forest on Saturday, two England matches – at home to Italy on 17 October and the friendly at home to Australia four days earlier – and Premier League fixtures against Newcastle, Tottenham and Burnley after the international break.
Palace are without Michael Olise for an extended period after the 21-year-old – who signed a new four-year contract last month after turning down a move to Chelsea – sustained a new injury to the same hamstring he injured playing for France’s Under-21s in the summer. The top scorer, Odsonne Édouard, missed the win over United with what Roy Hodgson described as a “slight muscle injury” to his hamstring, and Jefferson Lerma is sidelined by a hamstring injury sustained with Colombia.
Hodgson will hope Édouard can return to face Forest at Selhurst Park on Saturday but Dean Henderson looks set for a long spell on the sidelines after being forced off after just 19 minutes of his debut in the Carabao Cup defeat by his former club at Old Trafford last Tuesday.
“The initial scan wasn’t very positive, I’m sorry to say,” said the Palace manager. “He has another scan in a week’s time and maybe we’ll be lucky in that it will show somewhat less damage than the first one, but it didn’t look like good news.”
