Positive injury updates won’t help Chelsea in time for huge Ast… — and more

Liam Rosenior has just given a press conference update on the fitness of a few of his key players ahead of our game against Aston Villa.

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We’re desperately trying to find some positives from Chelsea’s horrible loss to Arsenal yesterday, featuring as it did another red card and two more goals conceded from set pieces.

The one place we could turn to was the team news, where it sounds like we’re close to getting some important players back. Rosenior had positive updates on a few of his first team squad members.

Rosenior drops update on Cucurella, Lavia and Gittens

Liam Rosenior speaks to the media after Chelsea’s loss to Arsenal.

“[Players are] getting closer. [Marc] Cucurella is looking really good. Hopefully, we can get him back involved, if not for Wednesday, for Saturday, for sure, which is great for the schedule we’ve got coming up,” Rosenior said.

“Estevao [Willian] is back on the pitch running, which is great. Jamie Gittens is doing really well. It’s been brilliant to have Romeo Lavia get his first minutes in a long time. I felt he looked really strong. So, yeah, the quicker we get all of our players healthy, the better.”

It certainly was nice to see Lavia back in the team – how long that will last is another question, of course. With Pedro Neto suspended for Wednesday’s game after his yellow card, it’s vital that Estevao and Gittens get fit as soon as possible too – although neither sound like they will be ready for this one.

In other news…

Cole Palmer took a knock in the game against Arsenal and looked like he wanted to come off, even though he ended up playing on.

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Brentford right-back Aaron Hickey will miss Scotland's World Cup warm-up friendlies against Japan and Ivory Coast as injuries continue to plague several key players in Steve Clarke's squad.

The Premier League club have revealed they hope the 23-year-old, who was withdrawn at half-time against Brighton and Hove Albion on 21 February with a hamstring problem, "will return after the March international break".

Bournemouth, meanwhile, have yet to reveal a return date for winger Ben Gannon-Doak, who has missed the majority of the league season with a hamstring injury the 20-year-old picked up in the 4-2 win over Denmark in November.

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Having already lost Scotland striker Lawrence Shankland until April with a hamstring injury, Heart of Midlothian head coach Derek McInnes has also all-but ruled Craig Gordon out of Japan's visit to Hampden on 28 March and the match against Ivory Coast at Everton's new Hill Dickinson Stadium three days later.

The 43-year-old goalkeeper has already missed the Scottish Premiership leaders' latest six matches with a shoulder injury.

John McGinn is also doubtful, although the Aston Villa midfielder said last week that he is two or three weeks away from a return from a knee injury picked up on 18 January that required surgery and had the 31-year-old initially fearing for his place at this summer's World Cup finals.

Fellow midfielder Scott McTominay picked up an injury in Napoli's win over Genoa on 7 February and, although he said last week he had an outside chance of playing against Hellas Verona, was absent for a fourth consecutive match.

However, Billy Gilmour made his second substitute appearance since picking up a groin injury in November as the midfielder helped Napoli win 2-1.

Romelu Lukaku held off the attentions of Scotland striker Kieron Bowie, making his fourth start for the hosts, to score the late winner - the first time they have won this season with McTominay absent.

McTominay could make his club squad on Friday at home to Torino, for whom fellow 29-year-old Che Adams might also return after a two-game absence with a calf strain.

The striker had been passed fit for Sunday's 2-0 win over Lazio but did not make the match-day squad.

Meanwhile, Derby County right-back Max Johnston is expected to return in mid-March after four months out with a hamstring injury but might not be match fit in time for the Scotland friendlies.

However, defender Ross McCrorie returned to the Bristol City side that lost to Watford at the weekend after three games out with concussion.

Centre-half Grant Hanley is expected to return to action this week after missing five games for Hibernian.

Rangers midfielder Connor Barron, who has been out with a knee injury since early January, is expected back this month.

Goalkeeper Angus Gunn has at least made the Nottingham Forest bench since recovering from November's knee ligament injury, but his lack of game time is another worry for Clarke.

Veteran striker David McGoldrick bagged a hat-trick in Barnsley's 3-1 win away to Leyton Orient at the weekend and continues to show that age is just a number.

McGoldrick bagged goals in the 10th, 53rd, and 62nd minute of the game against Orient to put himself on 15 goals in 31 games in all competitions for the season. The forward has only scored more goals in a single season three times in his career and we still have plenty more games to be played.

The Barnsley man's best goalscoring season so far is still the 25 he netted for Derby County in the 2022/23 season followed by 21 for both Coventry City and Ipswich Town 10 years earlier in the 2012/13 campaign, and his third best season was just last year – 17 goals in 37 games for Notts County.

The hat-trick at the weekend moved McGoldrick to the number one goal scorer in the top four tiers for 2026, putting him ahead of Reading's Jack Marriott (nine) with Kyrell Lisbie and Jayden Wareham just behind on eight.

In comparison, the top Premier League goalscorer for 2026 is Brentford's Igor Thiago with seven since the start of the new year.

What made McGoldrick's treble even more remarkable is that he set a new League One record. Since the branding of the third tier in the 2004/05 season, McGoldrick is now the oldest player to score a hat-trick at 38 years, 2 months, and 28 days.

Dean Windass had the previous record for his hat-trick against Scunthorpe United all the way back in the 2005/06 season (37 years old) and he also has the third-placed hat-trick from the game against Bournemouth (36 years, 29 days old).

With 15 games left in the season, McGoldrick could well go on to have his best year of his career – could even break his own hat-trick record?