Enzo Maresca issues injury update on 6 players ahead of Morecambe and confirms 2 who will get 'some minutes'

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has issued an injury update ahead of his side’s clash with Morecambe in the FA Cup third round on Saturday. The Blues will be expecting to progress to the fourth round, although they will have to be on guard for an upset, especially with Maresca likely to rest some of his key players.

It was a difficult run of festive fixtures for the Blues, who dropped away from the thick of the Premier League title race in the process, now looking over their shoulders at Newcastle United in fifth place. The FA Cup will provide an opportunity to win silverware for Chelsea, and it will be interesting to see how seriously Maresca will take the competition, especially when the Conference League starts back.

“The FA Cup is very important,” Maresca said of the competition in his pre-match press conference. “It’s another competition and as I’ve said since the start, we want to do well in every competition - whether that’s the Premier League, the Conference League, the Carabao Cup or the FA Cup.

“Tomorrow’s game against Morecambe is no different, we go to win like we do every match. It’s an important competition because it has so much history and culture attached to it. We are prepared for the game and I know a lot about Morecambe now because we’ve watched many of their videos to be ready for tomorrow.”

As for team news, Chelsea will be boosted by the return of Reece James and Romeo Lavia from injury, and Maresca intends to play both in some capacity. “Yes Reece and Romeo are both available and hopefully they can get some minutes for tomorrow’s game,” confirmed the Chelsea boss.

“The rest are all available for selection other than those that were already injured from before. Benoit Badiashile and Wesley [Fofana] are out and Keirnan [Dewsbury-Hall] is still injured, so he won’t be involved.”

Aaron Anselmino ruled out

One player who is not ready is new signing Aaron Anselmino, who recently arrived from Boca Juniors as part of a pre-agreed deal. Maresca added: “No, we won’t see Aaron [against Morecambe],’ our head coach added. ‘It’s still too early for him and the plan is to get him into condition to get him some minutes in the future, but not now.

“He had some injuries while with Boca and we will give him time to settle in here. To get used to English football, English weather and from there, we will look to use him.”