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Chelsea fans looked forward to meeting Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final, but instead were met with disappointment as we lost to Arsenal in the replay of the fixture. We started strongly, but defensive mistakes cost us, and Arsenal ran out winners of the tie. We didn’t lose because we failed to play well, we lost because we lacked a solid legs on the pitch.

Gary Cahill, who has been outstanding all season is out with an injury, as are Cesc Fabregas and Alvaro Morata. Willian started the game, but had to be replaced with new signing, Ross Barkley in the 60th minute. What this means is that we lacked creativity and proper firepower on the night. Barkley only just returned from a lengthy injury layoff. That means he’s still match-rusty, and without Willian and Fabregas (who has a hamstring problem), we’re left with just Eden Hazard, Pedro  and Michy Batshuayi as the only genuine attacking threat. Batshuayi hasn’t been Impressive all season, and Hazard can only do so much by himself. So we definitely need back up options. The current injury crisis rocking the team highlights how short we are on attacking players. Pretty much every available option is down at the moment, so buying is the way to go. We need to buy, and quickly too if we truly want to salvage what is left of this season.

We’re already out of one competition this season, we’re still active in two, with the exception of the league. Unless we buy and buy well, it’s hard to see how we’re going to survive them all.