Liam Delap, Levi Colwill, Romeo Lavia and Reece James are suspended or struggling with injury.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has some difficult selection decisions to make for the Club World Cup semi-final against Fluminense (Rafal Oleksiewicz/PA)open image in gallery
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has some difficult selection decisions to make for the Club World Cup semi-final against Fluminense (Rafal Oleksiewicz/PA) (PA Wire)
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Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca is confident he will find the right answers to the selection problems he is facing for their Club World Cup semi-final.
The Blues take on Brazilian side Fluminense in New York on Tuesday for a place in Sunday’s final.
Striker Liam Delap and defender Levi Colwill are both suspended after receiving their second bookings of the tournament in the quarter-final win against Palmeiras.
Midfielder Romeo Lavia has not recovered from a muscular problem and the fitness of captain Reece James continues to be monitored after a knock.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference at the MetLife Stadium, Maresca said: “I think in the last game we had Romeo out, Moi (Caicedo) out, Reece out and we found a solution with Andrey (Santos) playing in midfield.
“Now with Levi and Liam out, we will find different solutions.”
Midfielder Moises Caicedo is available again after serving a ban and Nicolas Jackson and new signing Joao Pedro, who made his debut off the bench against Palmeiras, are competing to start up front.
Maresca said: “Romeo is training already. Unfortunately, though, he is not training with the team, so he is not ready for tomorrow.
“But Joao Pedro is ready and we also have Nico so, for sure, we will find a solution.”
Chelsea are coming to the end of a long season that they began last August, whilst Fluminense are just 11 games into their Brazilian league campaign.
Maresca said: “In this tournament we have two different situations.
“How many games have the Brazilians played this season? We will have played 63 times.
“European teams come to this competition in a different way from the teams of the Brazil or the teams of South America, but the desire we have to win is the same.”