Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho have returned to the Chelsea squad and are in contention for tomorrow’s FA Cup trip to Coventry. Hiddink has less pleasing news on Paulo Ferreira though – he sustained an injury to his cruciate ligament in training and will sit out the rest of the season.
Ferreira’s loss could create some interesting possibilities should Chelsea lose Ashley Cole to injury (or perhaps rehab) but with Mancienne covering the right-back position, Hiddink won’t be overly concerned. As for Essien and Carvalho – they will be blinking back on our radars for the next gameweek in which Chelsea take on City at the Bridge…
Essien will doubtless threaten Mikel’s starting role in the midfield three, while Carvalho will provide direct competition for Alex for the spot alongside Terry. This could be an interesting one. Alex is known to Hiddink from his PSV days which might win him favour and make it a closer call than expected. There could be regular rotation of two, particularly while Chelsea preserve their Champions League campaign. A potential problem, given that plenty of us will be looking to earn from the strong defensive fixtures Chelsea have to come in the mid-term (MCY tot new BOL EVE whm FUL).
Carvalho is currently priced at 6.3 in the Fantasy Premier League game which appears to represent strong value if we can be sure of regular starts. The centre-back only scored one goal in 19 starts last term but did contribute 17 FPL bonus points. He had notched a goal and an assist in nine starts this season, although both his spells is the side were interrupted by injury.
Essien meanwhile, currently holds a value of 7.4 – perhaps not immediately tempting but last season’s returns of 6 goals, 4 assists and a mammoth 27 bonus points in 23 starts, indicates that he will be a consideration as an end of season differential. In truth, Chelsea are going to have to threaten more goals per game before Essien becomes a factor and potential points scorer.