Roméo Lavia, who has played 32 minutes of competitive football since joining Chelsea for £53m in August, has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a thigh injury.
The update on the Belgium midfielder is the latest in a long line of worrying developments for Mauricio Pochettino, who has had to cope without a number of key players at various points of a testing campaign. Reece James, Chelsea’s captain, has not played since December and Christopher Nkunku, Lesley Ugochukwu, Levi Colwill and Wesley Fofana are also in the treatment room.
