Chelsea Hit with Injury Blow

Early reports are suggesting that Chelsea striker Samuel Eto’o will be out for at least a fortnight as he recovers from a hamstring injury sustained in this weekend’s match with Arsenal. With glimpses of form in his recent games, the injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the 33 year old Cameroon international.

Eto’o opened the scoring in the 6-0 demolition of Chelsea’s London rivals, with a composed curling effort on his left foot. Leaving the pitch almost immediately after, Jose Mourinho must have suspected the worse. Having scored 3 goals in his last 3 Chelsea appearances, his absence will be regrettable for Blues fans, at a time when winning every match is crucial to their title dream.

Inconsistent performer Fernando Torres replaced Eto’o on the weekend, and played well, despite failing to find the back of the net.

“Fernando, without scoring a goal, had a very good performance with great movement for the team,” Mourinho said.

Chelsea fans might be thinking, ‘We’ve heard this all before’. They’d be forgiven for such exclamations, given the utterly indifferent form of the once world class Spanish striker. Torres’ has scored just 4 league goals this season in 22 appearances. His off the ball work rate and link up play may be ignored by these statistics, but with a wealth of creative midfield talent at Jose Mourinho’s disposal, its goals that Chelsea need from their number 9 at this stage of the season.

The early prognosis on Eto’o is that he will certainly be missing for Chelsea’s clash with Crystal Palace this season, and further absences will depend on ongoing scans and the uncertain recovery time of his injury.