Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana is facing around a month out with a hamstring injury.
Fofana, 23, went down shortly before the hour mark during Sunday’s Premier League win over Aston Villa and had to be replaced by Benoit Badiashile.
Fofana appeared to be clutching his right leg and went straight down the Stamford Bridge tunnel after coming off.
“It’s unfortunately bad news,” Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca confirmed after the 3-0 victory. “It was a hamstring problem and with this kind of thing, it’s at least three, four, five weeks. In this moment, (it) means he loses 10 games, 12 games.
“The way he was playing it’s a big loss for us, but we have more players and we will try to find solutions.
“It’s a big loss. He’s doing fantastic, but it’s normal when you play this amount of games. Fortunately, it was his first injury this season, but we will find a solution.”
Fofana had started all 12 league games he was available for to start the season, missing only the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool in October through suspension after picking up five yellow cards.
The Frenchman’s injury leaves Maresca with Tosin Adarabioyo and Axel Disasi as senior right-footed centre-back options, though the left-footed Badiashile started alongside Levi Colwill during last weekend’s win at Leicester City when Fofana played at right-back and was again chosen to come on against Villa. Renato Veiga, the 21-year-old Portuguese, is another left-footed centre-back option.
Chelsea beat Villa thanks to goals from Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer. They move to third in the league, level on points with Arsenal, and are next in action on Wednesday when they travel to Southampton.
Including that Southampton game, Chelsea play nine matches in the Premier League and Europa League between now and January 4.
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