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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho fears that goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will be out for “a long time” after sustaining a knee injury in training.

The Belgium international suffered the injury during a training session with the club this week, and Chelsea confirmed that the 23-year-old has had surgery on his right knee, meaning Asmir Begovic will start in goal for the Barclays Premier League champions’ trip to Everton on Saturday.

"Courtois was injured in a training session with the goalkeepers and I cannot tell you much, but I can tell you that he needs surgery in his right knee," Mourinho said.

"As a consequence of that he will be out for quite a long time. I cannot be at this moment more specific about the injury or the time he will be out."

"I will wait for [Chelsea medical director] Doctor Biosca to be more specific after surgery and I think today [Friday] we will be ready to give some more information.

"It is not easy to have the best goalkeeper in the world injured but it's easy to have one of the best goalkeepers in the world to play. We have [Asmir] Begovic to play and he is very, very good.

"I am very sad for Thibaut. I am very sad for the team obviously but we have a top goalkeeper and Begovic will be in goal."

The Portuguese manager also confirmed that 21-year-old academy graduate Jamal Blackman will be second choice in Courtois’ absence.

"Our decision was the third goalkeeper would be a young English goalkeeper behind two fantastic goalkeepers and we think that’s a normal situation,” Mourinho added.

"Now Jamal becomes the second. He was on loan at Middlesbrough and didn’t play once in the Championship. He has no experience but he has potential.”

Chelsea will be without midfielder Oscar, who is in contention to feature in their UEFA Champions League group stage opener against Maccabi Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

Despite Chelsea’s injury setbacks, Everton manager Roberto Martinez is expecting a strong response from the defending champions when they travel to Goodison Park this weekend.

Chelsea have taken only four points from as many matches and suffering a 2-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace before the international break.

Martinez's men lie a point ahead of Chelsea in the table, although they did emerge with a share of the spoils from a tough trip to Tottenham Hotspur last time out.

"They haven't reached that winning momentum of last season," Martinez said. "That's obvious. You can have the same players, way of playing and quality but you need that momentum and that comes with results.

"Their four games this season they've been small margins, except versus [Manchester] City [in a 3-0 defeat].

"I very much expect a strong Chelsea team with right approach, hitting the heights they hit last season when they won the league comfortably. We need to make sure they don't develop momentum against us."

Everton are without left-back Leighton Baines and midfielder Tom Cleverley due to ankle injuries, while Steven Pienaar has a hamstring problem. Bryan Oviedo is a doubt with a knee injury but Darron Gibson has returned to training following a foot problem.

Everton (from): Howard, Joel, Stanek, Browning, Coleman, Funes Mori, Galloway, Hibbert, Holgate, Jagielka, Oviedo, Stones, Barkley, Barry, Besic, Gibson, Lennon, McCarthy, McGeady, Mirallas, Osman, Deulofeu, Kone, Lukaku, McAleny, Naismith, Rodriguez.

Chelsea (from): Begovic, Blackman, Courtois, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Djilobodji, Ivanovic, Rahman, Terry, Zouma, Fabregas, Hazard, Loftus-Cheek, Matic, Mikel, Oscar, Ramires, Traore, Willian, Costa, Falcao, Kenedy, Pedro, Remy.

Match Appointments
Referee: Andre Marriner Assistants: L Betts, D Bryan Fourth Official: A Taylor



http://m.premierleague.com/en-gb/matches/2015-2016/epl.summary.html/everton-vs-chelsea

Chestar5:
i didnt notice, its weird cos u comment different

You took the words out of my mouth,
He seems like his analysis became more, and better improved under d new moinker.

Van-gaal seems to have made lot of enemies during the 90s and it like he isnt tired of doing so.
The rate at which people take to media to abuse him is out of this world

We are a counter side, bulk of our goals last season came from counters and set-pieces.
Fabregas' free-kicks are becoming awful, and that where most of his assists last season came from. This is part of d problem this season,
he needs to step up pls or we had better find another set-piece taker, his inability to fire shots last game cost us as he lost a rebound his shot had no power and was easily parried off.

Willian- was another minus Yesterday his crosses were bad, he takes too much time to calculate before passing and he isnt doing mathematics or should we start calling him'Mathematical Willian'. I have always preferred Oscar to him cos for all his work-rate the turn-over is always low.
Plus this guys obeys the law that states no attacking player flourishes under Mou.

Hazard- where is thou dribbling skills, countless times on this thread ninjas have abused hazard for dribbling excessively, but to me the guy is doing no dribbling, everywhere just looks clumped together around him and pls dont tell me he has no breathing space.
Ivanoic-this the major culprit here, even though his inadequacy would have been covered up had fabregas been doing his job of cutting of passes or crosses. But still he has himself to blame the first goal would have been averted had he move quickly to clear the ball but no he chosed to allow sake to have space to cross for the first goal.
For the second goal it was worse he ran off leaving zouma to do the marking and was still doing no marking allowing ward to sneak in for the goal.
No matter the cost Ivanoic should not be played in that rb position again. Azpi should be move there asap even he feels strange playing there for the first 20mins, he would surely adapt.

Nihilist:
Well I have to disagree with my man Nateevs on quite a few points.

1. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a core squad. Barcelona for example have almost no bench at all(Relatively speaking). That hasn't stopped them from winning the quintuple.City, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool also had their very predictable squads week in,week out.Let's not forget that this same 'threadbare' Chelsea squad won the double almost too easily last season.

In fact, it was only Terry, Ivanovic and Hazard that played every league game of last season. Costa was out for a few. Oscar very rarely finished games. Zouma and RLC got several chances to impress, and some other youngsters got chances to play in the last few games of the season. So I think that 'playing the players into the ground' is not to blame here.

2. So what is to blame? I remember when I did that analysis of the game versus City and it became immediately apparent that there was a big gap between Midfield and Defence. That gap there in my opinion is the problem. And that Gap is a as a result of a slight change in system.

Jose clearly is still not convinced on the best position for Fabregas. Fabregas plays best(Offensively) in the Pivot, but is a defensive liability. When Jose tries to push him into the hole, he becomes ineffective. Oscar manages to bring out the best in Fab by tracking back, whilst still doing a job upfront. Willian also tracks back, but is clearly ineffective up top..

3. The fullback situation. Jose mostly played Terry in defence. If you have 2 fullbacks bombing forward, you expose Terry's lack of pace to pacy counter attackers. Hence, Jose attacks with one FB to offer some relatively decent protection. That being said, Iva is rinsed each game and Jose has clearly looked to rectify that. Our last two games(v Westbrom and Palace) Azpi has been the more attacking fullback and Ivan's runs down the right have clearly been reined in. If you have the chance, look up the average position for Azpi and Iva over the last two games and you will see that Azpi has been in more advanced positions. That being said, Hazard created the most chances in the league last season, and he is joint 2nd for chance creation this season, despite the relative lack of support.

4. Last season Fabregas was the most dribbled past player in the Chelsea squad, and the Matic-Fab pivot was the most dribbled past combination in the league. Fabregas's propensity to go missing defensively, and Matic's over aggressive defensive play(Most tackles in the league) were mitigated against by a relatively weak league opposition. This season we're playing against some significantly upgraded teams. Against Swansea, we faced up against Jonjo Shelvey(2nd Most created chances in the league this season ), Cabaye(Cabaye lol) and the (Yaya toure/Silva/Aguero). We've also played 2 of our last 4 games with 10 men. So it's not as bad as it actually looks.

We've conceded 23 chances from the right flank(Highest in the league so far) so Yes Ivanovic has to go. But we've also conceded 17 chances from central areas(the 5th worst in the league). We also recorded the joint highest number of defensive errors in the league.

There is already a replacement ready for Iva, so thats a minor problem. That Midfield though is a big big big problem. And in my opinion is the main reason for our loss of form, and not because anybody has been played into the ground.

you comparing our team to barca Whatever core we have it 'will' never be like Barca.

To me our youth players didnt really get that chance to impress tho Rlc seem to flashed brightly in the last game, i mean the guy gave palace defence problems and had he had more time perhaps we could have had at least a draw

To me the problem is we dont just have that gameplan, it like our attacking players dont have that freedom to do what neccesary to win.To make things worse other teams especially the small teams now have players who can challenge the big teams cos the diiference in talent isnt that much, there is no longer that fear factor for big teams everyone wants to get the damn 3pts.

Solution is we need to change our gameplan but it seems mou is running out of ideas our right flank needs to be guided from fab to ivan, the way oppostion breezes 2ru that side is out of this world.
Oscar should get more playing time than willian for now cos d latter seems to be out of form, Azpi needs to move back to rb, ivan most certainly cannot be there any longer, his defensive and attacking game has been poor.

In conclusion we need to change our formation to a 4-3-3 at least until fab attacking form improves.

eyah na party make this thread long like this anyway thread no 2015.

I was here.

MatricNumber:
u no see the snake bite he did?...... and i thunk u shud start day new youngster in ur next game

I was lilke where has this one been.

I swear if i see ivanoic in our line-up next match, i wont watch the match until 2nd half niyen o.

If Loftus can keep the flashes of brilliance burning then perhaps he would displace fab.

i take God beg Mou abeg make ivanoic no play next match o

falcao

matic pump that ball now you no eat ni, lampard or ballack would have buried that ball fab missed

willian and his sergio ramos shots, lord all of them and their sergio ramos shots

in other news liverpool been raped at anfield.

who is the sako sergio ramos

PietroRico:
homologous chromosomes don't separate in mitosis brah

lol common now am sure he stopped biology far back in sec school, Hey tval change that to meiosis, meiosis 1 to be precise.that where crossing over takes place.

[quote author=nonsoroyalty post=37445133][/quote]Seriously old man dont you have any sense of your own to fall back on:
i mean just take a look at what you posted, look at what someone of ur age posted.
Shameless dunce. *spits*

raumdeuter:
I am expecting Mochengladbach to be last in that group. City got the worst german club in the CL who lost their best players and are without any point in the Bundesliga currently

Hmnn your answer is a double-edged sword,in the fact that if ur prediction finally comes true you would quickly point out to ur former post and if the reverse is the case, gladbach does well you would use this to destroy the epl by the fact that the worst among ur league rep destroyed d best in epl.
You av really learnt the art of Arguing, did you study law or you learnt it in Awo.

Skimpledawg:
.... Ai swear eh, wen i just finished reading dz post, d 1st psn i xpected to react to it wz u..... And u come finish work ... Jah bless Oga....



Blues till Obama marries Mugabe

no mind the guy jare boss, it been long since i saw ur moniker sha.#ktbffh

funlord:


No pity for male trannies on the prowl oh! In the short time I've been there I've seen dem catch oyibo black guys, gays etc! Their was even 1 dumb ass boy that the caitlyn dude job am collect new iphone come deactivate the fraud account come show back dey diss the dude with new account! Haba!

what! D boy dense no be small, him turn maga for broad daylight. I wont be surprised if the guy is part of those who open threads to profess love or write love poems for gir wey them never meet.

I tire for guys sef

sinizia:
Nah. Êrotic is a lady. She's popular at the Romance section with her dimwitted and retárded unsolicited opinions.

Since the day she opened a thread about how guys disturb her with pm that when i knew 'she' was just another dumb romancelander.

But still the madness that flows in that romance section is just so flabbergasting,that section was my most visited b4 i joined nl but some months after i joined it was been taken over by some retards.

But still funlord you for take am easy with babe now, besides her pic is diff, i used to know her as a dark-skinned lady abi she belach ni

sinizia:
Nah. Êrotic is a lady. She's popular at the Romance section with her dimwitted and retárded unsolicited opinions.

Since the day she opened a thread about how guys disturb her with pm that when i knew 'she' was just another dumb romancelander.

But still the madness that flows in that romance section is just so flabbergasting,that section was my most visited b4 i joined nl but some months after i joined it was been taken over by some retards.

awesome4:
Why rooney they flash illuminati sign after each goal # hope it is fake

alaye chilla jor which one be illuminati sign again, Nigerians sha.
Bros for ur own good no dey believe anything wey naija bloggers dey post wey ur eyes no see. Illuminati crap is just the money-spinning invention of some crazy ninjas. Go and read about illuminati you go know sey no just anybody dey that society.

Ishilove:
O my, your username...

hey how come you aint supermod anymore dont tell me you allowed kingtom(&other probs) to get under ur skin.

Group D: Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla,
Borussia Monchengladbach

this group above is what interests me most, each rep a top league-Italian,English,Spanish,German.
I would be so keen to see their results.


In other mind abeg make mancity no go do mumu o, make their head open this time around or else homesteady,debroslink and Raumdeuter no go allow make chelsea thread rest. #ktbffh

Group D: Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla,
Borussia Monchengladbach

now this group above apart from chelsea group interest me the most reason is very obvious, each member rep the top four league
Italian,English,Spanish,German.
May the best among them win.


*In a deep voice i say* let the games begin.

yes o Ucl is back, am so much in high spirits, too bad practical wont allow me to watch

I hardly see fabregas xcept where he wants to play freekick. Man the guy needs to mark effectively at least.

Ivan- abeg make mourinho rest that guy for a while abeg, the kind crosses and destructive passes wey dey follow the guy area enter box no be for this world

Last thing is cant we have someone who can shoot the goddamn ball when there is space ni, only willian and ivan tries and it either blown to the heavenlies or blocked, we can just be tapping around the box we have to try shooting from outside the box or we would be too predictable and shut-down.

pressure don much o

this ref take beer ni isnt he the one that waved ivan in

camera na bastard o, i was sure that was a goal

ivan marking is damn poor.

ddippset:
God bless you for this observation.

what is so wonderful about the observation, am sure you are not a barca fan, dude called pedro of all people a reject and you asked for God blessings for him.

dopeJemi:
Because una dey beat WEST BROM?

*sips dry gin*

of course this is a psychological boost for us as a team.