Enzo Maresca has confirmed Reece James is in contention to feature against Liverpool after the defender’s return to full team training earlier this week.
James has not featured in a competitive match during the 2024/25 campaign following his injury during pre-season.
However, the Blues skipper returned to full team training on Monday and has featured regularly in sessions this week at Cobham.
Maresca was asked if there were any injury concerns, and then latterly about James’ availability, ahead of Sunday’s match at Liverpool during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
Our head coach said: ‘No, finally we are all available. So we have all the squad available apart from the suspended ones.’
He continued: ‘He is available. Finally he is back. He worked with us all the international break and it’s good news, especially for him because the injury is not a good feeling. So finally he is back.’
‘It’s always complicated when you get injuries, it is not easy,’ he added.
‘So you are always looking for a solution. A possible solution with Reece is the same solution we are using with Romeo [Lavia] and Wes [Fofana] in terms of using them just once a week and [playing] one game, because probably in this moment for different reasons, Reece’s body cannot play twice a week.
‘So probably one of the solutions is that we want to try to manage him in the same way we are doing with Wes and Romeo.’
Asked if using James once a week is a long-term solution or only for the short-term, Maresca replied: ‘In this moment I think it can be the solution now. In the future, I don’t know.
‘But if we want to build something with him in terms of physicality and physical condition, probably the solution is to allow him to go slowly and to use him once a week and then hopefully in the future, we can use him more during the week. But in this moment, probably we need to use him once a week.’
Chelsea will be without both Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana for this weekend’s game due to one-match suspensions they picked up after collecting their fifth yellow cards of the season against Nottingham Forest.
The return of James means Maresca could have a selection headache on his hands long-term, with Malo Gusto excelling during the England international’s time out of the side.
Gusto is versatile and has been used at left-back and in midfield previously so the possibility of both defenders featuring in the same XI at some point is not out of the question.
Axel Disasi has also featured at right back this season, whilst the Frenchman is among those who could play at centre-back alongside the established Levi Colwill, as can Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoit Badiashile.
On the left side, Renato Veiga has played at left-back on several occasions since his arrival in the summer and Ben Chilwell came on as a substitute against Barrow, although Maresca revealed the England defender only returned to training on Thursday after missing the earlier part of the week through illness.
On the prospect of replacing the suspended Cucurella and Fofana, Maresca said: ‘It’s not a problem. I said since we started I’m very happy with the squad and the players that we are using. Since we started, we have tried to share the minutes between the competitions we have. We have two suspended players who can’t play, so we will find different players who can play.’
Chelsea fans heading to Liverpool for Sunday’s game are being encouraged to plan ahead and consider alternative means of transport to rail on that day. Read why here.