Chelsea defender Thiago Silva suffering ‘terrible headaches’ because of ‘non-stop aerial duels’

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

New Chelsea signing Thiago Silva has impressed onlookers with his impact on the pitch since joining this summer, but off the pitch is suffering with the transition.

The Brazil centre-back has been eased gradually into the line-up by Frank Lampard, who has left him out of a few squads to build his fitness and offer recuperation time, but Silva says he is feeling the effects of the top-flight game in England long after the final whistle goes.

Pointing to a more physical nature than he is used to, the No 6 says the relentless approach of Premier League games is causing him post-match discomfort.

"After my last two games, I've had a terrible headache because there are non-stop aerial duels and a very high pace of play,' he said, after joining up with his national team.

Last season in Ligue 1 he averaged 2.9 aerial duels per 90 minutes, according to WhoScored, while in the Premier League so far it’s 3.1 for Silva - an average of one extra duel every five games, though he is winning slightly more of them for Chelsea than he did at PSG.

As well as the issues with aerials, Silva has pointed to squads having to cope with unexpected absences.

Several managers have asked for five subs to be allowed to protect the players and Silva points to studies which back up those calls.

"We have to constantly reinvent ourselves. You lose players because of Covid-19 infections or there are others who get injured because we're playing a lot of games. We're not machines.

“We have seen recent studies showing that it is more likely that we are going to get injured after having played every three days four or five times. It is very worrying for us.”

However, fellow Premier League player Andros Townsend has rejected the need for teams to have more subs, saying it favours bigger clubs against “mid-table sides" such as his own team, Crystal Palace.