Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca will be without Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia for Sunday’s trip to Brentford, as injuries continue to hamper his side’s efforts to finish in the Premier League’s top four.
Both players featured regularly for Maresca during the first part of the season, but their progress has been significantly interrupted since then with injuries.
Chelsea moved fourth in the table with eight matches remaining after Thursday’s 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
French defender Fofana, 24, recently returned from an extended period on the sidelines due to a muscle injury but only played two league matches before being left out of the squad for the game against Spurs.
“Fofana had a muscle problem a few days ago and we are waiting for more checks,” Maresca told reporters on Friday.
Lavia has played only two Premier League games since early December and recently suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
Maresca confirmed that Lavia will not play against Brentford.
“No, for Sunday, he is out. We don’t know yet how long he will be unavailable for,” he said.
“We are waiting for both. Romeo looks a little bit better injury compared to Wes (Fofana), in terms of probably Romeo can be back earlier than Wes.”
Despite having played only 13 matches in all competitions for Chelsea this season, Maresca says the 21-year-old Belgian midfielder is central to the club’s plans.
“If you compare Romeo’s games this season to last season, he’s already improved,” Maresca said.
“Because this season it was difficult to go the other way. But the target with Romeo is just to try to keep him fit as much as we can.
“The next year he’ll play more games than this season.”
