Chelsea FC v Manchester City FC - Premier League
Chelsea midfielder Romeo Lavia has suffered a fresh injury setback (Picture: Getty)
Three Chelsea players are back for the upcoming Premier League clash against Tottenham but Romeo Lavia has suffered a fresh injury problem.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday morning, Enzo Maresca confirmed Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke were ‘all good’ to feature in Thursday’s London derby.
Lavia’s absence looks set to continue, however, after he suffered a ‘small problem’ n training earlier in the week.
Maresca said: ‘Cole is back, he is okay. Noni is better. Nico is better. They are all good.
‘We’ve said many times, it is a game for players and when they are not there, you struggle.
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‘This has happened with us this season, where we had five or six unbelievable months and then had six or seven injuries in a row and we lost something.
‘Now it is good to finish with all of them. Since day one, [the players] are giving everything. The attitude has always been top, every day, and even in the last week because they know how important it is from now on.
‘Every game becomes important. We have nine games to go and hopefully we can finish well.’
Asked about Lavia’s possible return, Maresca added: ‘He was doing better in terms of progress but unfortunately one or two days ago he had a small problem, so we will see in the next hours.’
Palmer, arguably Chelsea’s best and most important player, missed the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal before the international break with a hamstring injury.
The 22-year-old, who is going through the first sticky patch of his career, then withdrew from England’s squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
Madueke has also been struggling with a hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined since mid-February.
The 23-year-old was one of Chelsea’s brightest players during the first-half of the season but only has two goals since early December.
Jackson, meanwhile, has not played since February 3. The Senegal striker scored nine goals in the first-half of the season but had failed to score in eight games before his injury setback.
More to follow…
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