Wesley Fofana was forced off with what looked to be a hamstring injury just before the hour mark in Chelsea's Premier League clash against Aston Villa. The France international has been in superb form since the arrival of Enzo Maresca but could now be set for a spell out of the team.
He appeared to suffer the problem in a dual with Ollie Watkins where he slipped over. [Fofana was then captured clutching at his hamstring with Chelsea physios coming to administer treatment before Maresca made the decision to sub him off and bring on Benoit Badiashile.](https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/news/chelsea-vs-aston-villa-live-30480027)
Given the amount of fixtures that await, it could be a big blow for Chelsea and Maresca especially as Fofana has done so well at the back alongside Levi Colwill. Thankfully for Maresca, he does have a number of options to potentially replace Fofana with Badiashile as one of those.
Axel Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo can both also fill in at centre-back but Chelsea will be hoping it is not a long-term issue given his recent injury problems. Due to a serious knee injury, Fofana did not play one competitive game for Chelsea under Mauricio Pochettino.
Fofana will likely join Reece James on the injury list and be unavailable for next week's clash against Southampton. Elsewhere, Malo Gusto was back in the matchday squad on Sunday after overcoming his latest minor issue, [though James is expected to miss another significant period.](https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/news/chelsea-new-reece-james-injury-30472533)
With just two players on the injury list, Chelsea are taking full advantage of their loaded squad as Maresca continues to use two different starting XI's in the Premier League and Europa League. Christopher Nkunku is one of those pushing to play in league action but the form of Nicolas Jackson cannot be ignored.
He is however, one yellow card away from suspension and therefore a chance for Nkunku could arrive during the busy Christmas period.