Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca gave worrying injury updates on absent midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia after Monday night’s Premier League win over Wolves.
It was important Chelsea wintheir first in the league in over a month, and the three points that put them back in the top four in the table.
But otherwise out of favor Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was handed his first Premier League start for the club as Fernandez and Lavia were unavailable after the previous game.
The pair started together in midfield against Bournemouth, with Lavia getting his chance as Moises Caicedo was temporarily reassigned at right-back. But both picked up muscle problems which later kept them out of the visit of Wolves at Stamford Bridge.
Lavia has a more serious problem. But the most worrying aspect is that, even days later, Maresca admitted that the time frame for their recovery is still unknown.
“Romeo is more important than Enzo,” he told reporters. “We still don’t know how long he will be out. We hope not too long. [It’s] muscle fatigue or muscle problem. We have to wait a bit. Both were against Bournemouth.”
Fernandez was the captain Chelsea for most of the season, although club captain Reece James returned to the starting line-up on Monday and impressed against Matheus Cunha. Lavia managed a string of games in October and November, but his performance against Bournemouth was frustratingly only his first in the Premier League since recovering from a previous hamstring injury.
Chelsea’s midfield depth without Fernandez and Lavia is thin. There were no reserve midfielders on the bench on Monday night, with doubts over whether Dewsbury-Hall is up to the standard expected.
Defenders Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana also remain sidelined, but the good news is that Levi Colwill has been declared “better now” and should be available to face Manchester City on Saturday.
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