Gusto, Lavia, Madueke, Jackson: Latest Chelsea fitness news ahead of Aston Villa clash

Chelsea will be without six players due to injury for their Premier League clash against Aston Villa on Saturday evening.

Enzo Maresca’s Blues head to Villa Park looking to end a run of two consecutive defeats after losing to Brighton & Hove Albion in both the FA Cup and Premier League.

Fortunately for Chelsea, the defeats haven’t significantly derailed their bid for Champions League qualification, however they will need to get back to winning ways as soon as possible to ensure they keep pace with their competition.

They remain just one point off of Manchester City, who are currently in fourth place. However, Chelsea are having to contend with and overcome several injury problems, which has left Maresca with several selection headaches.

Currently, Chelsea are without Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Romeo Lavia, Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu due to injury, while Mykhailo Mudryk remains provisionally suspended until further notice.

“Fortunately, we don’t have any additional injuries,” Maresca told reporters ahead of facing Aston Villa.

Maresca has already confirmed he hopes to have Lavia and Jackson back after the March international break, while Madueke is likely to return at the same time once he makes a full recovery.

“Probably after the international break we can have most of the injuries back, hopefully all of them,” added Maresca. “For us, this can be a big boost.”

Malo Gusto is in contention to face Aston Villa, though likely to begin on the bench, after picking up a knock against Brighton. He has trained all week and is set to be called upon by Maresca, who was full of praise for the Frenchman.

“I’m very happy with Malo, to be honest,” Maresca said. “I think he is doing well with us. In this moment, to judge players, it is probably as a consequence of the results also. Malo helped us a lot when we were in a good run.

“I think at some point of the season, we won seven, eight or nine games in a row and he was a fantastic part of that. In this moment, we can probably only judge Malo as a consequence of the results but Malo is a main player, an important player and he is doing well.”

Between Aston Villa and the March international break, Chelsea have six fixtures in all competitions. Villa, Southampton, FC Copenhagen twice in the Conference League, Leicester City and Arsenal.