Chelsea Suffer Huge Injury Blow Ahead Of PSG Clash But Attacker Set To Return

Chelsea have been hit by a huge injury blow with Guus Hiddink telling reporters that John Terry is unlikely to return for their crucial Champions League second leg against Paris Saint-German this week, according to the Mirror. 

Terry has already missed Chelsea’s last five matches having suffered a hamstring injury against Newcastle United last month and the defender has been working hard on the training pitch to try and get himself fit for Wednesday night’s clash with PSG.

The skipper has been undertaking an individual training programme in recent days and there were hopes he’d be able to play in a practice match to try and prove his fitness ahead of the Champions League second leg with the French champions.

However, it looks like Terry has run out of time to make the game as Hiddink has now confirmed that the centre-back is highly unlikely to be passed fit as he’s still unable to run freely.

Hiddink will give his captain every chance to prove his fitness and is still hoping he could play in a practice match on Tuesday, but the Dutch boss concedes it’s highly unlikely Terry will be in the line-up that faces PSG on Wednesday night.

Speaking at the weekend after Chelsea’s frustrating 1-1 draw with West Brom, the interim Blues boss is quoted by the Mirror as saying:

“I don’t think John will make it on Wednesday. For the time being, there has not been enough development to put him on the list.

“It’s not worse – he trained and had treatment on Saturday morning, and he can run, but he cannot go into a longer stretch where you have to accelerate. There he has to be careful.

“When he is ready to do so, maybe on Tuesday, he will play in a practice match, but I don’t think he will make it. Hopefully, let’s see what can be done for next weekend.”

With Terry now set to once again miss out, Hiddink is expected to stick with Branislav Ivanovic alongside Gary Cahill at the back with Baba Rahman and Cesar Azpilicueta filling the full-back spots.

It will be a big blow for Chelsea to be without their skipper as they look to turn around the 2-1 first leg deficit against PSG but there is some better news regarding the fitness of Diego Costa.

The Brazilian-born striker missed Saturday’s draw with West Brom due to a minor tendon injury but Hiddink expects his front-man to be back in contention to face the Ligue 1 giants this week.

‘He had a little problem on a tendon. That is why I was a bit cautious, (I didn’t want to) risk worsening that situation, but I think he will be okay on Wednesday.’ Hiddink is quoted as saying by the Metro.

Unless Costa suffers any sort of setback in training over the next couple of days, the Spanish international should get an instant recall to the starting eleven with Bertrand Traore likely to drop out despite scoring a fine goal at the weekend.