Emiliano Martínez suffered a fractured jaw in the win against Everton yesterday, with the goalkeeper rushed to hospital after receiving nearly ten minutes of treatment on the pitch following a … “collison”, if we want to be generous … with Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite in the second half. Branthwaite himself somehow would be allowed to play on, but Martínez lay motionless on the turf for a very long time as medics worked to stabilize him, before being leaving on a stretcher amind boos from
some local idiots. Lovely reflection on your town there, lads.
After the match, Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso confirmed that Martínez was doing okay, was conscious, and was undergoing tests at a local hospital. Subsequent reports however revealed that those tests found a broken jaw, which would require surgery. Apparently the break wasn’t too severe, but stories out of Argentina are expecting him out for “at least 40 days” (and 40 nights) — or about 6-7 weeks. That’s fairly quick for such incidents, though full recovery could take several months depending on the severity. I’d imagine Martínez will come back as quickly as humanly and medically possible, probably sporting a facemask to protect the newly healed bone.
Martínez himself has now confirmed on social media that the surgery went well, adding that he will be in “a few weeks”. Get well soon, Emi!
“Thanks to everyone for the messages, the operation went well. The most important thing is that we won and with a clean sheet. I’ll be back in a few weeks.”
-Emi Martínez; source: Instagram
With Martínez set to miss a good chunk of time either way, it will be up to young Mike Penders to step up and be the man between the posts. The 21-year-old has started both of our League Cup games so far this season, and made his Premier League debut by replacing Martínez for the final 30 or so minutes yesterda.
