Town boss Kieran McKenna admits Jaden Philogene’s injury “looks like a blow”, the England U21 international having been forced off with a knee problem only four minutes after being introduced from the bench during the 2-2 draw at Chelsea, while explaining why Liam Delap was on the bench and Kalvin Phillips was absent from the squad.

Philogene, 23, jarred his knee in a tackle with home skipper Enzo Fernandez moments after coming on and after trying to continue was helped off the field while unable to put weight on his leg.

“Jaden, it looks like a blow, no doubt. He’s opened up the inside of his knee, so it’ll be scanned,” McKenna said.

“It’s usually the MCL that gets some damage in that sort of tackle. I think he had one on his left side last season, so we’ll get it scanned and see how he is. We’ll be hoping that the damage isn’t too bad.”

Philogene would now seem likely to miss the European U21 Championship in Slovkia in June.

Regarding Delap, who was introduced as a 71st-minute sub, McKenna added: “Liam, as I said before the game, had a rib injury in the last game, so he’s not trained all week.

“He’s been in quite a lot of pain, but he’s a tough boy and his commitment to the club and to the group is top and he wanted to be here and he felt like he could come on and have an impact.

“We didn’t want to risk him in terms of the injury, it would have been a crazy one to start with and I don’t think many players would have put themselves on the pitch, but that was Liam, and it was safe to do so [from the bench], so it was good that he came on and I thought he was a big handful when he came on.”

Phillips, whose season on loan from Manchester City has been punctuated by regular fitness problems, was again absent having only just recovered from having 20-plus stitches to a gash to his foot.

“He’s got an injury to somewhere near his achilles,” the Blues boss continued. “It’s been an unfortunate run for him, he had the cut that he sustained in the Nottingham Forest game and now he’s picked up an injury in and around the achilles area. Not available today and we’ll see how it goes.”

Photo: Reuters

Motown added 18:00 - Apr 13 There's not a lot of point playing Phillips any more this season now. He won't be with us next season and it would be a bit of a travesty if Morsy were denied the last few PL starts. Terrible luck for Philogene but good commitment from Delap.
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bradforblues added 18:12 - Apr 13 Thought he should have gone in harder, block tackles are where you'll twist a knee or ankle if you don't.
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PortmanTerrorist added 10:52 - Apr 14 Phillips and Jaden sort of sum up our season. Looking back apart from the keeper fiasco, the one thing so evidently lacking for us was pace, power and experienced Premier League credentials were necessary in midfield. Kalvin took that spot and it has been a bust for us and the player, though he always looks like he is enjoying himself. We all move on, we should probably let him go now if we can; why wait until the end of the season. Jaden is clearly a player, but he simply has not adapted to the system and/or the League. Whilst you would not wish any injury, hopefully it is a minor thing, just a few weeks out, gets him out of the firing line, and he can hit pre-season with a vengeance and show us the player the U21s see. Get well soon Jaden.

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Bazza8564 added 18:01 - Apr 15 Agree with PortmanTerrorist, shame about Kalvin, but his pay demands make him an unlikely returnee this summer, and he has been unlucky with injuries. I agree about Jaden too. He will come good, as Jack Clarke is now showing, as Ben Johnson is now showing, and as Sammi did from the start. Most of these young players are going to take a year or so to really thrive. Liam is the exception, and we will surely lose him and replace him. But if you ignore Hirsty, and look at the quality in the left right and ten positions, I count 9 players of quality on our books at present, albeit with one loanee. Clarke, Jaden, Szmodics, Broadhead, Chaplin, Ensisco, Burns Omari and Ogbone. Replace Delap, strengthen the MF by signing Jens and Dwones, bring Cam H back, retain Axel and you have one hell of a squad. The season hasnt been good, although I would argue our recruitment (5 year deals for 22 year olds in the main) sets us up brilliantly for the future. So Im quite happy to bounce and invest, and im, well excited about next season

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