Azpilicueta awake in hospital after kick to head

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Cesar Azpilicueta was taken to hospital after being accidentally kicked in the head by Southampton’s Sekou Mara during Chelsea’s 1-0 home defeat by the Premier League’s bottom side.

The veteran defender was knocked unconscious by Mara as the Saints man attempted an ambitious bicycle-kick in the penalty area.

The game was delayed by almost 10 minutes as Azpilicueta was given oxygen by paramedics as he left the field on a stretcher with his neck and head in a brace.


“He is in the best place and I have heard he is conscious and been able to speak to his wife,” Blues boss Graham Potter said.

“We were obviously very concerned when it happened, but he is in the best place and we will keep monitoring him.

“We need to take all the precautions we need to take now and make sure he is OK, but it was very worrying. It was a horrible incident.”

It compounded a woeful day for an expensively-assembled Blues side, who sunk to their eighth defeat of the season.

But the under-fire Potter insisted he can turn things around.