Chelsea is set to receive a much-needed boost ahead of their Premier League home clash against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, with the return of midfielder Romeo Lavia. The young midfielder, who joined from Southampton in August 2023, was sidelined after suffering a hamstring injury in training. This setback kept him out of action since Chelsea’s lone league defeat this season, a 2-0 loss at home to Manchester City.
Lavia’s return is a timely one for Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, who is looking for his side to secure their first home victory of the season. The 20-year-old, who endured a frustrating season plagued by multiple injury setbacks last year, managed only one substitute appearance.
“Romeo Lavia is available for tomorrow, the only one (who will be missing) is Reece (James) he is still out and there is no real update on him at the moment,” Maresca confirmed to reporters on Friday. “We will see if (Lavia can play the full 90 minutes). We have one more session now and then we will decide but the most important thing is that finally he is back.”
Adding to the positive news, Maresca has a wealth of attacking options at his disposal. Nicolas Jackson, who scored a brace against West Ham United last weekend, and Christopher Nkunku, who netted a hat-trick in their 5-0 League Cup third-round victory over Barrow, are both in fine form.
The Italian coach faces a selection dilemma with the two strikers vying for a starting spot against Brighton. However, Maresca has other tough decisions to make, having seen several impressive performances from other attacking players this week.
“Yeah it’s one of them but I think Pedro (Neto) also did very well. Mykhailo (Mudryk) did very well the other day,” he added. “All of them to be honest. It’s important that when there is a chance, even if it’s five minutes, 10 minutes or half an hour or from the start, they give everything, so it’s important. “I’ve told them since day one that we cannot play with seven or eight attacking players otherwise there is no defensive balance.”
Following the Brighton encounter, Chelsea will face Belgian side Gent in the Europa Conference League on October 3 before welcoming Nottingham Forest to Stamford Bridge for a league fixture three days later.
