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(Reuters) – Striker Eden Hazard of Chelsea will miss Thursday's Europa League match against Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki following a minor ankle injury, but should recover in time to face Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday. said manager Maurizio Sarri.
Hazard played the 90 minutes of Chelsea 's 3-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday and was lame late, but Sarri dispelled fears that the Belgian international would be hurt long.
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"The danger, of course, is not a serious injury," said the Italian at a press conference Wednesday. "He will not be able to play tomorrow but I think he'll be able to recover for the Premier League match."
Hazard has been used sparingly in Europe this season. Sarri chose to retain his top scorer for the Premier League, but the manager said he was worried that the Belgian would still be overworked.
"I'm worried because he's hurt his back (earlier in the season) and now at the ankle, so he lost a lot of training," Sarri said. "It is normal that he is not at his best, he has a week and two games.
"This week, it's good for him to train, of course he can not play 10 games in 30 days, so he sometimes has to rest."
Chelsea is leading the L group with 12 points in four games and needs a point in two games to qualify for the round of 16 as a group winner.
The loss to Tottenham was the first loss of the season against Chelsea. Sarri called on his players to react, saying that he wanted to see more courage from his team.
"Saturday, we played very badly, a game without determination," he said.
"We have to understand why we played against the Spurs without determination, that's not normal.
"I want to see a reaction tomorrow and Sunday, I want to see that we learned from our mistakes."
Victor Moses, who can play in defense or on the wing, will also miss the match at Stamford Bridge due to a back problem.
(Report by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru)
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