Chelsea News – Latest On Oscar Injury Situation

The clash between Chelsea and Arsenal at the Emirates last Sunday was going on intense, it was just fifteen minutes into the first half and no team was threatening to take the earlier lead. A long ball is looped towards the Arsenal goal, and Oscar makes a run for a touch, Arsenal’s choice in goal rushes towards the ball for a possible clearance with his fists. The result of both players actions is a collision and Oscar goes down, having apparently received a knock on his jaws from Ospina’s shoulder.

The Premier League protocols states that ” in case of any suspicion of loss of consciousness in a player, he must be removed from the field of play” . But Chelsea threw caution to the winds and the 23 years old Brazilian finished the remaining 30 minutes of the first half. Leading neuropathologist, Dr Willie Stewart has questioned this decision and said, ” I’m amazed that in 2015 he stayed on the field”. Chelsea medical team denied noticing the player exhibiting a ‘fencing’ response — a clear indicator a concussion has been suffered. He was then named on bench for the match against Leicester city. Dr. Stewart adds, “It’s hard to accept “we didn’t see it” applies in this case. But even if we do believe that, his appearing three days later on the bench seems at odds with all current concussion protocols. It is completely unacceptable that this kind of practice continues.”

But the FA’s chief medical officer, Ian Beasley has a different position on the issue, he says,

” The medical team at Chelsea are fantastically experienced and well qualified. There’s lots of discussion around whether we should have some sort of video link so that the bench can find out exactly what happened if they didn’t see it. I’ve sat on the bench many times and not seen what’s gone on. It’s very difficult. I’m not trying to protect anyone. Concussion is hard to diagnose on the pitch. We need a rule change to be honest with you, we need rolling subs.”

This comes to shed light to the medical team’s ignorance of the extent of the injury. At the end of the game, Mourinho had declared to journalists,

“We had to change things because of Oscar’s injury. He went to hospital to have some scans and see what is going on because at half-time we were a bit scared. We don’t know yet if it’s concussion.”

The Premier League has been subjects to how injuries handled. The FA’s expert concussion panel are said to be meeting on May 13 in order to make decisions that will change some rules in the future, after 2 deaths have been reportedly said to have been caused by the longtime effect of collisions that weren’t immediately given the full medical attention.