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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that left-back Ben Chilwell has suffered a partial ACL injury. In the 'best case scenario', he will be out for at least six weeks according to the Blues' boss.
Chilwell picked up the injury in Chelsea's 4-0 win over Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday. He looked in a lot of pain after the challenge and had to be taken off. Tuchel confirmed the nature of Chilwell's injury and said:
"He has a partial injury of his ACL and the decision is to treat it conservatively and the next six weeks will tell the story actually if he makes it and will be fully available hopefully within this six weeks or after this six weeks or he needs a surgery after that."
If, after six weeks, surgery is required, it could leave the Chelsea man out for the rest of the season. Regarding this, Tuchel said:
"Now I only care about the six weeks. We are very positive because the first reaction of his body is very positive. Hopefully it stays like this and now the full focus from everybody is towards the next six weeks, bringing him back to the pitch and make him play."
Tuchel stressed that the current decision was made after a lot of examination. There is no pressure to rush Chilwell back into action. He said:
"This is the decision after all the examinations and is a very responsible decision so there so no rushing it and no pressure. This is the reasonable way to do it. So all the focus now is on the next six weeks."
The Chelsea boss remains hopeful of a recovery in six weeks. He stressed the need to wait before making further decisions. He said:
"Maybe we don’t need to talk about it [in six weeks] because everything is fine. This will be the best case and there is a worst case and maybe there are some shades of grey in between. We have to wait."
He further added:
"It does not help if we start now speaking about worst case scenarios because there is also a best case scenario and the decision is made. The next weeks will give the direction and if there are any updates we will give you the updates but right now this is what we have."
Ben Chilwell was starting to become one of Chelsea's best players
In a squad full of superstars, it is hard to pick out the best players. However, Chelsea full-backs Reece James and Chilwell were starting to show their prowess.
While James is Chelsea's top scorer this season with five goals, Chilwell has three to his name as well. In comparison, he scored four goals in the whole campaign last season.
The left-back was just starting to cement his place in the team, restricting Marcos Alonso to the bench. This is why the injury will be even more disappointing for Chilwell and Chelsea fans.
Chelsea will hope Chilwell doesn't require surgery so he can return after at least six weeks.
