Jose Mourinho has ruled Willian and Pedro out of Chelsea’s London derby with Arsenal this weekend.
Spanish World Cup winner Pedro missed the 4-0 thrashing of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Champions League tonight with a muscle strain, according to the Telegraph, as cited by the Daily Star.
Willian was his replacement at Stamford Bridge and scored the opening goal of the game with a long-range free kick that evaded everybody in the box and snuck in at the far post, as you can see below.
But he went down injured three minutes later and had to be substituted midway through the first half for Diego Costa, who helped Oscar and Cesc Fabregas complete the rout of the Israeli champions.
And Mourinho confirmed in his post-match press conference, cited by Chelsea’s Twitter account, that neither Willian or Pedro would be fit for Arsenal’s visit to Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunchtime.
Jose says he will only start thinking about team selection for the Arsenal game tomorrow. He says Willian and Pedro are out for sure. #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 16, 2015
The pair have been battling for a spot on Chelsea’s right wing since Pedro arrived in a £21m deal from Barcelona, according to BBC Sport. In their absence, Ramires could start against the Gunners.
Arsene Wenger’s men were also in Champions League action tonight, and their Group F campaign got off to the worst possible start as Olivier Giroud was sent off in a 2-1 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.
But Arsenal are six points better off than Chelsea after five games of the Premier League season, and beat them 1-0 in August’s Community Shield for Wenger’s first ever win over Mourinho.
SEE MORE:
Chelsea player ratings from 4-0 Champions League win: Fabregas back on song, Costa mixed, Hazard 6/10
Arsenal player ratings from 2-1 defeat: Villan Giroud 3/10, rusty captain 4/10 and no-show Ozil 5/10
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