Enzo Maresca has seemingly confirmed one player that will be in his Chelsea starting XI to play Leicester City on Sunday. The Blues head into that clash at Stamford Bridge following consecutive victories in the Premier League and Europe.
Throughout February, Chelsea were hit by several injury problems, but those have eased significantly in the past week. While Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu are still out, Benoit Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah featured against Copenhagen, plus Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana are close to returning.
Malo Gusto looked set to join the list of absentees after hobbling off inside 25 minutes on Thursday evening, but Maresca has confirmed he will be available. "He's okay and he's better," Chelsea's head coach said after the match. "They just told me he can be ready for Sunday's game, so hopefully we can have him for Sunday's game."
Caicedo was another player taken off early and he was replaced by Enzo Fernandez at half-time. However, it was clear that was done so he can get some rest before the visit of the Foxes this weekend. Though there is no injury concern, the midfielder could miss two games before the end of the season.
In the triumph over Southampton in late February, Caicedo was shown his ninth yellow card of the season and another caution will result in him being suspended for two games.
Given the Blues are huge favourites to beat relegation-threatened Leicester, there could be a temptation to bench him, but Maresca has confirmed that will not happen even though a booking would see him miss the London derby away at Arsenal next up.
"No, no, no," he said when asked if there was any second thoughts about not starting him. "I know that they said this to me, but at this moment for us, it's about winning games.
"We need to win games, so we cannot plan giving Moises a rest thinking that he can play Arsenal. We need to win against Leicester and then we need to focus on how we can beat Arsenal. It's just game by game and we need our best players on the pitch."
Reece James impressed alongside Caicedo in Denmark and he scored the opening goal, but it is far more likely he is joined by Fernandez, Chelsea's second goal-scorer on Thursday, in the engine room while the Blues captain is either at right-back or on the bench.
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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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