Chelsea receive Estevao & Delap boost as return date confirmed - Lavia & Essugo remain sidelined | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca delivered some promising updates on Chelsea duo Estevao and Liam Delap despite their expected absences in Saturday's trip to Newcastle United.

There were several key players left out of Chelsea's heavily rotated line-up in their Carabao Cup win over Cardiff City in mid-week.

Estevao's absence, however, raised some eyebrows.

The Brazil international had not started since the defeat to Leeds United earlier this month, so everyone expected him to start.

Unfortunately, Maresca confirmed that the 18-year-old suffered a minor muscular injury, which will also keep him out of the visit to St James Park this weekend.

The good news is that Maresca confirmed that he should be back in the team next week.

IMAGO / Action Plus

"We are good, yeah. The ones that we left out for Cardiff, they are okay," the Italian said in Friday's press conference when asked about the team news.

"We have probably Liam Delap and Estevao Willian, probably both available for next game against Aston Villa.

"That is good news. And then Romeo (Lavia) is still out. Levi (Colwill) is still out."

Maresca added that while initially, it was unclear how long Delap would have to nurse his shoulder injury, the recovery looks promising.

"We said since his injury that we didn't know exactly for how long, but he's progressing very well," he explained.

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Estevao and Delap's expected absences should not cause too much problem for Chelsea, since both Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro only played 24 and 45 minutes, respectively, against Cardiff.

That said, it would only benefit Chelsea to have both Estevao and Delap for the big game against Villa.

Villa currently sit third in the table, five points above fourth-placed Chelsea, so this match could prove decisive in the race for Champions League spots.

Maresca did not mention Dario Essugo, who recently suffered a setback after returning to training from a thigh injury.

The summer signing has yet to make his debut in the Premier League, and given the lack of news, the fans will likely have to wait a bit longer for his first appearance since the Club World Cup.