Chelsea star Christian Pulisic has been out of action since coming second best in a collision with John Stones in the Premier League defeat to Manchester City.

Having started the 2-0 win over Bournemouth in late December and the 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest on New Year’s Day, USA international Pulisic was in action for a third time in the space of just over a week against City, but his knock has forced him out for over a month now.

The injury put an end to any speculation surrounding a late January exit from Stamford Bridge amid interest from Turkish side Galatasaray. And whilst his future at the club remains in doubt, Graham Potter will be hoping to have the 24-year-old back sooner rather than later this season.

Graham Potter has revealed that despite progress being made, Pulisic is still not ready to return to action for Chelsea. Speaking ahead of the match against Tottenham, Potter explained the latest, saying: “We’ve had a good week’s training, everyone is available apart from N’Golo and Christian Pulisic. They are joining the warm-ups and will be more intergrated next week.”

Pulisic now hasn’t played since January 5 and is set to go two months without an appearance for the club. It is the 10th game of the season he has missed with injury and the 55th at the club.

Christian Pulisic has been handed a major training boost ahead of the rest of the season. Having not played since the start of January he has been pictured training once more.

In an image posted on his Instagram stories, Pulisic wrote: “Back outside boyz” with him and Mount with an arm around each other’s shoulder.

After the January transfer window closed, Potter was asked whether Pulisic’s future was dependent on the injury. He said: “No chance, no, he will be out past that [January transfer deadline] and there was never any consideration about him leaving anyway. He is a couple of months out.

“He is disappointed but he is optimistic about coming back quicker than two months. He is in that phase where he is keeping his fingers crossed and hoping his rehab goes well.”

Pulisic issued a two-word hint on his return date recently. The forward posted an image of himself from the incident against Manchester City in January.

Alongside the image, Pulisic simply captioned the post: “Back soon”.

A clash with John Stones on the 20-minute mark saw Pulisic hobble off with a knee injury in place of youngster Carney Chukwuemeka. In all fairness to Stones, it was a superb tackle that halted a clear-cut opportunity for the home side to take the lead on the quarter-way point, though it was unfortunate that Pulisic became a victim.

By clutching his knee, we know where Pulisic suffered the knock – and it was reported at the time that he could be out for two months.

In a new update after the defeat to Man City at the Etihad, Potter said: “Christian just opened up his knee in the game the other day so we’re still analysing it. It’s going to be weeks I would say.”

Fulham (A) Thursday, January 12

Crystal Palace (H) Sunday, January 15

Liverpool (A) Saturday, January 21

Fulham (H) Friday, February 3

West Ham (A) Saturday, February 11

Borussia Dortmund (A) Wednesday, February 15

Chelsea boss Graham Potter has revealed that some of the experienced members of his squad were unhappy with the side’s pre-season for the 2022/23 campaign. The comments echo that of former head coach Thomas Tuchel, who was disgruntled with the organisation at the time.

The build up to the campaign came with problems as the takeover of the club left uncertainty over the football operations for some time. The squad then went on their tour of the US, though performances weren’t ideal and included a thrashing at the hands of rivals Arsenal.

While the training is built with bringing players up to full fitness for the season, Tuchel couldn’t guarantee that they would be, underlining the difficulties of the time. “It’s quite a challenge after change already the third time the location,” he told Chelsea’s in-house media on the changes across the USA.

“A lot of travelling, another time zone, a totally different feeling of temperature, huge humidity, so very demanding for first training and the players are struggling with the heat. We give maybe more time and space to drink – more break – but we can’t hide from the fact we’re in pre-season and we have to, somehow, put kilometres into the legs. From this point, we don’t adapt.”

It was an issue that got the Blues off to a difficult start to the season, one that has been full of difficult changes both on and off the pitch. Since that discussion, plenty has happened, but new boss Potter has revealed that some of his experienced members of the squad expressed difficulties with the pre-season.

The head coach spoke to the media and when asked if he needs time to implement his methods, he said: “It’s really tough. My quote a few weeks ago is that it’s the toughest job in football,, and there are reasons for that. Speaking to a few of the experienced guys, they said it was the worst pre-season they’ve had.

“Organisationally, the tour didn’t work as well as they’d like. I wasn’t there so I can’t say. We thought we made progress, but the first half against Southampton was below par. The sky can fall. These are some of the facts. Inconvenient facts, but that’s the situation.”

Chelsea reportedly prompted unexpected anxiety in the dressing room by sanctioning Jorginho’s sudden exit at the end of the January transfer window. Graham Potter’s decision to offload the Italian, a key player in recent years, contributed to his mounting struggles at the start of his tenure as head coach.

But after he seemed set to remain at the Amex Stadium, not many would’ve predicted that the Gunners would turn to Jorginho.

The 31-year-old was out of contract at Chelsea in July, helping Mikel Arteta swoop in and secure a £12million deal.

And the decision to let him join a rival so easily is understood to not have gone down well at Stamford Bridge.

According to The Athletic, Jorginho’s late exit ’caused some dressing room consternation’ among Potter’s squad.

Former Manchester United midfielder Anderson has opened up on his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo and how the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has a side to him that “a lot of people don’t know”.

The Brazilian midfielder moved to Old Trafford in 2007, spending two seasons with Ronaldo before the now-Al Nassr star joined Real Madrid for a world-record fee.

Chelsea are 10th in the Premier League, out of both domestic cup competitions and trail 1-0 against Borussia Dortmund after the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

Potter has guided the Blues to just two wins in their last 14 games in all competitions, including eight defeats, in a horrendous run of results.

The Blues are 11 points behind fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur, and that gap could extend when the Londoners clash on Sunday.

Losing a player of Jorginho’s quality, experience, and winning mentality undoubtedly took its toll on Potter’s already morale-drained ranks.

Jorginho was also central to Italy’s Euro 2020 win but made way at Stamford Bridge for the club’s new age of midfielders.

Potter’s decision to splash a British record £107m on Benfica’s Enzo Fernandez would have contributed to Jorginho’s desire to switch allegiances.

Reports claim Chelsea want to pair Fernandez with N’Golo Kante in midfield once the Frenchman returns from injury.

Conor Gallagher, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Denis Zakaria are also options Potter has available.

But Jorginho’s presence is seemingly one being sorely missed as the Blues’ slump rumbles on.

Chelsea star Christian Pulisic has been out of action since coming second best in a collision with John Stones in the Premier League defeat to Manchester City.

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