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Chelsea's striking predicament


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Far from the dismal output of our strikers last season, Jose Mourinho faces another striking concern - this time over fitness.

With Diego Costa only recently returned to training after a hamstring injury obtained in our defeat of Stoke over the Easter weekend, and Loic Remy rated by Mourinho at 50:50 for this weekend's away trip to second-placed Arsenal, the Special One may well be turning again to veteran striker Didier Drogba.

But after the Ivorian withdrew from a charity match in France after sustaining an ankle injury, Mourinho may be without a frontline striker for this weekend's trip to the Emirates.

Whether Drogba is truly injured or is under strict instructions from Mourinho rest easy between fixtures remains to be seen - at 37, Drogba is no longer the supremely fit forward he once was - but considering the charitable soul that Didier is, it is unlikely he would pull out of such a high profile event.

Drogba, a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, withdrew from a game billed as a Match Against Poverty in St-Étienne on Monday with an ankle complaint - and it is not for the first time this season that the striker has suffered from such an injury.

Should any of Chelsea's potent striking force recover in time, then all will be well for Mourinho's men, who have looked incisive in attack in recent weeks regardless of who leads the line.

If the worst was to occur and Mourinho is without any of his strike force, it would not be a disaster in this particular fixture. Given the magnitude of the fixture and Arsenal's recent form, it is likely that Mourinho will look to set up his side to sit deep, soak up pressure and hit on the counter in typical Chelsea style.

Either Eden Hazard, Juan Cuadrado or even former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas could all operate in a false number nine role as an adapted version of the archetypal 4-3-3 system. If any team in the Premier League has the means to cope with injuries, it is the current league leaders.

But fitness concerns over Chelsea strikers this season has been a major form of concern.

Costa missed much of the back end of last season at Atletico Madrid with a hamstring injury, and the occasional recurrence of that complaint has severely curtailed his involvement in a Chelsea shirt this campaign.

The naturalised Spaniard has only appeared in 24 of the Blues' 32 Premier League games so far this season, but has still managed 19 goals in that period of time. Had he been fit for the entirety of the season, there would be contest in the race for the Golden Boot award, in which Costa trails Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero, who lead with 20 strikes each.

Loic Remy has been equally sharp in front of goal, scoring seven times despite starting only eight games in all competitions. But after Liverpool backed out of a deal to sign the Frenchman from QPR before he finally agreed terms with Chelsea over concerns about his fitness, those fears appear to have been well-founded considering his relative unavailability at times this season.

Whilst it was a heart condition, rather than the recurring calf injury that has recently kept the former Marseille frontman out of action, that deterred Brendan Rodgers from singing him in the summer, the Frenchman, who was in with half a chance of being fit for last weekend's win over Manchester United, is making slow progress in his recovery bid.

The various ailments of Costa and Remy have left Drogba as Chelsea's solitary striker in recent weeks, and despite a half-dozen goals this season all scored in a glut before Christmas, the Ivorian is only a shade of the same player who led the Blues to Champions League glory in 2012.

Whilst Drogba's return has been vindicated given his contribution, he has visibly been jaded in games and has struggled to play for more than 60 minutes, let alone a full 90. Drogba is now, at best, an impact player to bring on off the bench, but whilst he insists he will not hang up his boots and retire just yet, there are justifiable concerns that a role as even third-choice forward next term may be a risky move - especially given his age, the and prospect of both Costa and Remy falling into the "injury prone" bracket.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Chelsea need to bring in striking reinforcements over the summer, especially should Drogba's involvement become more limited as he assumes the much-touted player-coach role.

Ashley Cole's teammate at AS Roma, forward Mattia Destro, was linked with Chelsea in January and has been frustrated by a lack of regular football under Rudi Garcia this season, whilst another Serie A hot-shot in Mauro Icardi, who has managed to score sixteen goals in 29 appearances for a decidedly average Inter Milan side, is another potential target.

Obvious homegrown options exist in Patrick Bamford, who, in having been on loan at Middlesbrough this season, was named the Championship's Player of the Season in an awards ceremony in London on Sunday.

Another potential player to make the step up to the senior squad is Dominic Solanke. Roy Hodgson drafted in England's Young Player of the Year to train with the England senior team after a wave of injury withdrawals left them short of numbers ahead of their UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier with Lithuania last month.

Whether it is a homegrown option or a multi-million signing from abroad, Mourinho looks likely to have to dip into his transfer fund to bolster the Blues' attacking options this summer.

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I didn't realise before he joined us that Costa had ongoing fitness concerns, and for that reason alone I don't feel confident with Remy as our back up striker, despite the fact I love him as a player and don't think we could have a better back up, when fit.

Costa's fitness means more for our back ups than it means for himself.

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I think it would be better for Bamford's development to play regularly at this stage of his career. A loan season at a PL club and then evaluate his squad status in Chelsea. Would like to see Dybala as our second striker but only at a reasonable price which seems unlikely at the moment.

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I think it would be better for Bamford's development to play regularly at this stage of his career. A loan season at a PL club and then evaluate his squad status in Chelsea. Would like to see Dybala as our second striker but only at a reasonable price which seems unlikely at the moment.

Dybala is actually YOUNGER than Patrick ,and Pat has experience of English football. Bring in Dybala and we can say goodbye to Bamford

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Has to be Paddy as 2nd/3rd choice next year. Has to be.

2nd yes, third no. This season, all of our three strikers have been injured numerous times, but that is not the usual case. Normally, the third striker in a team that plays a lone striker system barely a hand full of appearances, mostly in cup matches and such. It would be better for both Patrick and Chelsea if he was sent out on loan is that is going to be the case.

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It would be the end of Bamford's career with Chelsea if we go out and spend money for a third striker. It is as simple as that!

I mean what more can a youth player from Chelsea achieve do to get a shot at the first team.

Draft him into the first team, rotate him along side the other 2 (rotate implies actually rotation where he gets 20-25% game time) ... If he is good promote him to 2nd striker. It will not only save us money but would be a big boost to our young guns. A motivation! An incentive!

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2nd yes, third no. This season, all of our three strikers have been injured numerous times, but that is not the usual case. Normally, the third striker in a team that plays a lone striker system barely a hand full of appearances, mostly in cup matches and such. It would be better for both Patrick and Chelsea if he was sent out on loan is that is going to be the case.

To be fair I meant half 2nd, half 3rd. If we're going to have 3 strikers in our squad then someone is going to miss out.

I'd have Diego, Remy and Bamford. Considering we play around 60 games every season there's no reason why we can't have Costa starting around 35, Remy 15 and Bamford 10, with Remy and Bamford also having around 15-20 substitute appearances each on top of that.

If we could give Bamford even 25 appearances with 10 being starts I don't see why we shouldn't keep him.

And of course this is all assuming he performs averagely, there's a chance he could be like Harry Kane has been this season and force himself into being in the discussion for starting every game by January, give him a chance in Chelsea's team I say.

The only other option that would be ok is for him to have another year loaned at Middlesboro IF they get promoted.

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I didn't realise before he joined us that Costa had ongoing fitness concerns, and for that reason alone I don't feel confident with Remy as our back up striker, despite the fact I love him as a player and don't think we could have a better back up, when fit.

Costa's fitness means more for our back ups than it means for himself.

This,

I really like Remy, i think he is everything you want from a second choice striker when he is fit but he seems too injury prone to be relied on imo. The one thing that is most important when being second choice striker is to be reliable and at the moment he isn't just because of his frequent injuries.

And altough i think Drogba has done reasonably well as an old third choice striker, I do hope we go with a young inexperience third choice striker next year

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To be fair I meant half 2nd, half 3rd. If we're going to have 3 strikers in our squad then someone is going to miss out.

I'd have Diego, Remy and Bamford. Considering we play around 60 games every season there's no reason why we can't have Costa starting around 35, Remy 15 and Bamford 10, with Remy and Bamford also having around 15-20 substitute appearances each on top of that.

If we could give Bamford even 25 appearances with 10 being starts I don't see why we shouldn't keep him.

And of course this is all assuming he performs averagely, there's a chance he could be like Harry Kane has been this season and force himself into being in the discussion for starting every game by January, give him a chance in Chelsea's team I say.

The only other option that would be ok is for him to have another year loaned at Middlesboro IF they get promoted.

There is usually a reason and that is from those 60 games, we'll have about 55 must win games against good opposition where the best fit striker will always start. You can never plan things like these because they depend almost solely on the fitness of other players. If Costa and Remy remain fit throughout the entire season, Bamford probably doesn't get a single start.

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I understand people want Bamford/Solanke to be given a chance, but let's say next season we go to the Camp Nou in a UCL semi-final second leg... would you trust one of those young boys to get us to the final over a proven scorer like Icardi?

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Way too optimistic. Even Remy hasn't started 10 times for us this year.

Remy has been crocked every time he looks to get a run of starts which has limited his playing time.

Also, he does have 10: 6 in the league, 1 in the CL, 2 in the FA Cup and 1 in the League Cup.

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There is usually a reason and that is from those 60 games, we'll have about 55 must win games against good opposition where the best fit striker will always start. You can never plan things like these because they depend almost solely on the fitness of other players. If Costa and Remy remain fit throughout the entire season, Bamford probably doesn't get a single start.

Of course there's a chance that would happen. But if we sign someone like Icardi for 10-15M, then we've paid that much money for a player who hasn't played at all either, so that'd be a huge waste of money. Swings and roundabouts.

Also i'd make sure he'd be given those games, but maybe that's just me. I don't see why he couldn't start every League Cup game and some home games against the weak PL and CL teams.

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