El Shaarawy Ready for Chelsea

Reports out of Italy indicate that Stephan El Shaarawy will have recovered in time to be available for Wednesday’s game in London. Gianluca Di Marzio who reports for Sky Sports Italia said that El Shaarawy trained normally and will be at EDF’s disposal.

This is a big boost for Roma who were very thin up front against Napoli on Saturday. Il Faraone’s availability gives EDF a little more tactical flexibility since it frees up Florenzi to play RB if El Shaarawy starts in the attack. Otherwise, EDF could start Florenzi in attack and have El Shaarawy as a weapon off the bench. This is certainly good news for Roma who are still missing Schick and Defrel up front.

On the flip side, as you can see in Di Marzio’s tweet, Manolas’ injury is about as bad as expected. The Greek defender will miss roughly 3-4 weeks with his groin strain. This means he will miss both Chelsea matches but hopefully return for the Derby which is in just about a month.