Morgan Gibbs-White was added to the English team on Sunday evening due to doubts about the fitness of Cole Palmer, who could not play for Chelsea yesterday.
There was a surprise that midfielder Gibbs-White, who was brilliant again for Nottingham Forest on Saturday, was omitted from the original team, his form of the last time and especially seen Jordan Henderson of Ajax made the cut.
Chelsea -Baas Enzo Maresca said that Palmer would have a scan today on a muscle problem, whereby the midfielder will probably not participate in the Thomas Tuchel team.
Palmer took the injury in the training on Saturday and missed the 1-0 defeat of the blues by Arsenal yesterday. It was the first league match that Palmer had been since a 5-0 loss for the Gunners in April last year.
The 22-year-old will miss the world cup qualifications of England against Albania on Friday and Latvia a week today.
Maresca said: 'I don't think (Palmer will be available for England). It is a muscular problem. He needs a scan and this is planned for Monday. '
Chelsea is now sweating about whether their star man, who has 14 goals and six assists in the competition this season, will return to Tottenham after the international break.
Maresca also acknowledged that his side is struggling with goals without Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke, who can both be back to face Spurs. “It's a huge difference,” he added. 'If you think of the three players with the most goals for us, none of them was on the field today. It is normal that we can struggle offensive. '
In the meantime, Mikel Arteta Chelsea praised the 'best attacking team in the competition'.
The bizarre claim came after Arsenal defeated the blues via a first half Mikino-Header-Hun first goal from a corner since beating Spurs in January. Three teams – Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City – have scored more this season than the 53 league goals of Chelsea, with Liverpool managing 16 more.
Arteta said: 'In open game, yes (they are the best). With a mile. I mean, the statistics say it and everything I've seen says it. 'They can open you, they can work in transition, they have individual quality. It's my opinion. I have a lot of data that is objective. '
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