Chelsea injury blow as Ross Barkley a doubt to face Manchester United

Vaishali Bhardwaj19 October 2018

Ross Barkley is a doubt to start Chelsea's Premier League clash against Manchester United on Saturday after picking up a minor injury on international duty.

Barkey has impressed for both club and country in recent weeks, becoming the first Englishman since Frank Lampard in 2013 to score and create a goal in a game for Chelsea as they beat Southampton 3-0 before the international break.

He then won plaudits starts for England against Croatia and Spain, playing a key role in the Three Lions' third goal as La Roja were beaten at home for the first time in 38 competitive fixtures.

However, Barkley could find himself back on the sidelines with a small issue requiring "one or two" days to recover from to throw his inclusion against Jose Mourinho's side into doubt.

Mateo Kovacic would be the obvious replacement for Barkley on the left-hand side of Sarri's midfield with the 24-year-old recovering from his own minor fitness concern to be in line to start.

Speaking to reporters at Cobham on Friday, Sarri said: "[We have] the usual after the national teams, there are some problems.

"So now we have the most serious, I think, is [Ethan] Ampadu. Then we have a little problem with [Callum] Hudson-Odoi, and a little problem with Barkley. But with Odoi and Barkley it's only a question of one or two days.

"The injury for Ampadu I think is serious. I don't know how much, but serious. We hope to recover him in a couple of weeks. [Antonio] Rudiger has done better in the last two days, like Kovacic. I think they will be able to play."

Should Barkley not be fit enough to make the bench on Saturday, Ruben Loftus-Cheek would be called up to Sarri's squad after being left out completely against Southampton.

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