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Defenders Reece James and Malo Gusto and midfielder Romeo Lavia will miss Chelsea’s trip to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday (8pm BST), manager Enzo Maresca has said.
Gusto withdrew from France’s Under-21 squad with a thigh problem, while fellow right-back James has not featured this season because of a hamstring injury.
“Romeo looks very close,” Maresca said of the prospect of Lavia appearing for the first time since Chelsea’s opening 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on August 18.
“My focus is the pitch because it is the only thing I can control” ⚽️
Enzo Maresca on the ownership saga at Chelsea 🔵 pic.twitter.com/G42ukamhDA
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 13, 2024
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Chelsea vs Bournemouth
Centre-back Wesley Fofana and talismanic attacker Cole Palmer have trained this week after missing out on playing for their countries during the international break because of injury concerns.
Maresca said he would “sit with” Ben Chilwell and “find the right solution” to the full-back’s predicament after a planned transfer exit for the former England international did not materialise before the transfer window closed.
“We’ll see [if] he’s going to be back with us for training sessions, because at the moment he’s not training with us,” explained Maresca.
“The reason why he’s training apart is because the idea was for him to leave. He’s probably going to start to train with us – we need to decide that. I think he’s good. I saw him this morning and he’s OK.”
🚨🔵 Enzo Maresca: “I really, really like Carney Chukwuemeka… but we have so many attacking midfielders”.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t find solutions in the summer. Now we can use him”. pic.twitter.com/CJCe5ah10s
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 13, 2024
Chelsea ‘improving’
Chelsea have had a mixed start to their first top-flight season under Maresca, following up their loss to City with a 6-2 win at Wolves and a 1-1 draw at home to Crystal Palace.
Reports this week have suggested that club owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali want to buy each other out, but Maresca offered little insight into any upheaval behind the scenes.
“The players are professional enough to understand that we cannot control these kinds of things,” he said. “The main focus is on the pitch.
“I don’t know if something is going to happen, to be honest. I don’t have an idea. The only thing I can say is that, from a football side, we are going in the right direction.
“The team is improving. I used the international break to review the games. In the three Premier League games we played, it’s true that we conceded goals, but we also conceded from Palace’s first shot on goal.
“Against City, we didn’t concede so many chances, which is strange against City. Against Wolves, we didn’t concede any shots in the second half.”
Bournemouth have a point more than Chelsea after drawing against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle before claiming a dramatic first victory of the top-flight season, recovering from 2-0 behind at Everton to win 3-2 with the help of two goals during second-half added time.