Chelsea have been left sweating over the wellbeing of goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez after he was stretchered off against Everton with a head injury.
With just over 20 minutes to go, Martínez came out to try and claim an Everton free kick, only to collide with Toffees center back Jarrad Branthwaite in a nasty clash of heads.
Branthwaite was sat up shortly after but there was immediate concern for Martínez, with medical staff racing onto the pitch to help Chelsea’s stopper, who was in obvious distress on the turf.
After lengthy treatment on the pitch, Martínez was taken off on a stretcher and went straight to hospital for scans on the injury. As he left the pitch, he appeared to be moving his arms.
On in his place came young Mike Penders. The 21-year-old became the youngest goalkeeper in Chelsea’s Premier League history in what club officials expect to be the first of many appearances over the coming years.
Chelsea will need the formal diagnosis of Martínez’s condition before even starting to come up with a return timeline for the goalkeeper, but it would come as a huge surprise to see him playing again before the end of the month at the very least.
Clearly, anything more serious would extend that spell on the sidelines, with Chelsea now waiting for the results of the scans on Martínez to know exactly how to proceed.
Xabi Alonso could be without his starting goalkeeper for some big fixtures. A visit from Tottenham Hotspur is on the cards next weekend before a Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool, for which Martínez may have been rested anyway.
October comes to an end with a visit from Manchester United, before a trip to Sunderland takes Chelsea into the November international break.
Any extended absence for Martínez would provide Penders a lengthy run in the side. The towering 21-year-old impressed on loan with Strasbourg last season and Chelsea decided against loaning him out again this season, instead opting to keep him around as competition for Martínez.
Penders has started both of Chelsea’s Carabao Cup games so far. After his debut, a 2–0 win over Luton Town in the second round, Alonso assured fans that the Belgian will soon have a major part to play.
“Talking about Mike, for sure, he will have games with more work,” Alonso said. “You could see in some moments he was under pressure and he was calm. He has security of his football.
“He didn’t make many saves but he’s a great prospect for the future and the present as well.”
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