Enzo Maresca refused to confirm who would replace Wesley Fofana in defence and stated it partly depended on the game plan.
Levi Colwill and Fofana have been Maresca’s first choice partnership with the duo starting every game apart from Liverpool for which the Frenchman was suspended.
With Fofana picking up an injury against Aston Villa and Maresca subsequently confirming he’s a few weeks away from returning it represents an opportunity for somebody to step up.
Maresca refuses to confirm who will replace Fofana
Benoit Badiashile, who replaced his countryman on Sunday and also started last month’s win against Leicester would appear to be the obvious candidate.
The 23-year-old has only started one Premier League game this season although he appears to have move ahead of Tosin Adarabioyo in the pecking order, with Axel Disasi out of the picture.
However, when asked who would replace Fofana, Maresca refused to confirm and insisted it would partly depend on what his game plan is.
Wesley Fofana looks frustrated against Aston Villa. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Maresca needs to decided who will replace Fofana. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
“It depends a little bit on the game-plan,” he told his pre-match press conference.
“Benoit is one of the solutions, but we also have Tosin, Axel, we have different players that can play there.
“For sure, it’s a big loss because Wes was doing fantastic in every game but we need to accept we have to find a different solution
“We had yesterday’s session where the guys that played had a recovery. Now, this afternoon, we have one more session and then we decide.”
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The favourite would appear to be Badiashile given he’s featured regularly recently, although it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if Adarabioyo did start.
It’s not ideal for the first choice pairing to be broken up but these next few games offer an opportunity for Badiashile or Adarabioyo to really step up and send a message to Maresca that they should start in the league on a more regular basis.