Liam Rosenior says Jamie Gittens was due to be on the bench for Chelsea against Newcastle United but ‘felt his hamstring’ after training yesterday and, like fellow wingers Pedro Neto and Estevao Willian, was forced to miss the game.
It proved a frustrating evening for the Blues at Stamford Bridge as we fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat. Anthony Gordon scored the decisive goal after 18 minutes, with Rosenior's side unable to force an equaliser despite pushing hard over the remainder of the game.
The Chelsea head coach felt his side lacked 'mental freshness' in the final third against the Magpies, something not aided by his limited attacking options. Estevao is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Pedro Neto was suspended for today's game.
Rosenior did hope to have Gittens involved – the winger hasn't featured for the Blues since the end of January – but he was withdrawn from the squad after our final pre-match training session at Cobham.
'It's difficult at the moment with the injuries, especially in attacking areas,' Rosenior said after our defeat to Newcastle. 'I'll never make excuses as injuries are a part of the season, but we're missing three of our most important players in terms of unlocking a low block – our wingers.
'Jamie was due back on the bench today but felt his hamstring late after training yesterday, so we're just checking up on him. Estevao is out and Pedro is suspended. You'd love to freshen it up and we tried to find different tactical solutions [against Newcastle].
'Saying that, I think we got into their final third enough times, we just didn't take advantage of those moments.'
Rosenior also explained in his post-match press conference why goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen and defender Josh Acheampong were not in the match-day squad against Newcastle.
The Blues head coach said: 'Filip felt his groin yesterday and he couldn't train. I thought Rob (Sanchez) actually performed very, very well today in every aspect. Hopefully, Filip will be back really, really soon.
'With Josh, that's just the decision I made in terms of the bench, what I felt we needed against a really physical, dominant Newcastle team when it comes to set plays. Having Benoit (Badiashile), Mamadou (Sarr), and Tosin (Adarabioyo) to deal with that threat, I felt was a better way to go.
'Josh is not out of my plans at all, when he comes back into my thinking for Tuesday.'