Chelsea tactics: 5 ways the Blues will cope without Morata
By David Gate
Chelsea will be without main striker Alvaro Morata for 4-8 weeks with a hamstring injury. Here are 5 ways the Blues will cope without their top marksman.
With seven goals in eight games, the start of Alvaro Morata’s Chelsea career has been a resounding success. He was brought in from Real Madrid for the huge sum of £60 million to lead the line and provide just that kind of goal return. Yet now the Blues are going to have the, well, blues.
Morata limped off the pitch on Saturday as Chelsea fell to a 1-0 loss against Manchester City. The Spanish goalscorer suffered a hamstring injury. Further test indicate he will now miss 4-8 weeks. The prognosis is nearer 8 than it is to 4 weeks.
This leaves Chelsea in a huge bind. The club only list two strikers on their club roster – Morata and Michy Batshuayi. After Antonio Conte’s falling out with Diego Costa it has left them painfully short on forward depth. The club also loaned out Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek to Swansea and Crystal Palace respectively. And Dominic Solanke preferred the comfort of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
The Italian manager had wanted to bring in at least one more striker this summer but the club could not get it done. The dream was to partner Morata with Torino goal machine Andrea Belotti. But the inability to sell Costa in the summer prohibited that move. In the last few days of the window they thought they had a deal for Fernando Llorente but he ended up at London rivals Spurs instead.
So how will Chelsea cope? Here are 5 ways we think they will manage without Alvaro Morata: