Chelsea boss confirms nephew of former Super Eagles defender will not play against Crystal Palace

Speaking at the post-match press conference after his side were beaten 2-1 by Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino confirmed everyone's worst fears about Lesley Ugochukwu by revealing that the nephew of former Super Eagles defender Onyekachi Apam will sit out the next Premier League game against Crystal Palace.

The France U21 international of Nigerian descent recovered from a muscle tear injury in time to be surprisingly named in the starting lineup against Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

Pochettino had no choice but to include Ugochukwu in the starting lineup, with Enzo Fernandez ruled out for the trip to Wolverhampton due to a hernia issue and Moises Caicedo unavailable for selection because of illness. 

Ugochukwu's comeback lasted less than an hour as he had to make way for Christopher Nkunku after suffering a relapse of the injury that kept him out of the Chelsea squad for five consecutive games before the trip to Wolves. 

The Argentine football tactician will also be without Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling for the visit of the Eagles with the duo picking up their fifth cautions of the season which triggered an automatic one game ban for both players.

Reacting to his Chelsea's disciplinary issues and the harsh yellow card issued to Sterling, Pochettino told reporters: "They are young and are frustrated sometimes and after they think about the mistake.

"For me Raheem didn't deserve the yellow card but now we are going to miss two players more and also Lesley Ugochukwu".

Since his summer move from Rennes, Ugochukwu has played in thirteen games for Chelsea across all competitions, six of which he started.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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