Chelsea could be without in-form left-back Emerson Palmieri for Saturday’s game against Wolves after he limped off during Italy’s 2-1 win over Finland on Sunday.
The 25-year-old lasted only eight minutes of Italy’s European Championship qualifier in Tampere before being taken off as a precaution after tweaking his hamstring.
Although Chelsea are confident that Emerson avoided sustaining any serious damage, it is unlikely that he will be risked for this weekend’s trip to Molineux.
News of Emerson’s injury will have been a blow to Frank Lampard as he has been one of Chelsea’s most impressive performers at the start of the season.
While Chelsea have the second-worst defensive record in the Premier League, most of their issues have come at centre back or from the out-of-sorts Cesar Azpilicueta on the right.
Emerson, though, has been excellent, winning all 15 of his attempted tackles, topping Chelsea’s charts for interceptions with ten and also creating six chances at the other end.
That form has seen him emerge as Italy’s first-choice left-back and their manager Roberto Mancini delivered an update on his fitness after the narrow victory over Finland at the weekend.
The former Manchester City manager said: ‘It was nothing serious, he stopped to ensure it didn’t get any worse.’
Should Emerson miss Chelsea’s game against Wolves, it would open the door for Marcos Alonso to make his first appearance of the campaign.
Alonso has scored an impressive 15 Premier League goals since the start of the 2016-17 season but his form dipped in the second half of last season and he lost his place to Emerson.
Lampard has been without a number of first-team players through injury including N’Golo Kante, Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who is sidelined long-term.
In better news for the Chelsea boss, Callum Hudson-Odoi is closing in on a return to fitness and could play for Chelsea’s U23s against Brighton on Friday.
