Enzo Maresca confirms Nicolas Jackson return date for Chelsea | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca revealed that his star striker Nicolas Jackson would be sidelined for "around six to eight weeks" with a hamstring issue, but also offered some more encouraging injury updates.

Jackson pulled up less than ten minutes into the second half of Chelsea's league meeting with West Ham United at the start of February. Maresca initially played down the damage done to his starting centre-forward and was more concerned about the "long injury" fellow striker Marc Guiu had suffered in the same game.

However, rumours of an extended spell of the sidelines for Jackson emerged on Thursday and were reluctantly confirmed by the Chelsea boss later on the same day.

"Nicolas Jackson will be out until after the [March] international break," Maresca sighed.

Nicolas Jackson will be sidelined for longer than expected / Visionhaus/GettyImages

"We knew it was a muscular problem but we didn't know how important it was because his reaction was quite good. We thought it was not a big injury but unfortunately he had the scan a few days ago and it is an important one. It will be around six to eight weeks."

Despite the prospect of lining up without a recognised number nine for the foreseeable future - a grim prospect cast in a darker light given the team's struggles against Brighton last Saturday - it was not all doom and gloom.

Reece James missed last week's trip to the south coast, but the injury-prone skipper should be available for Chelsea's next league fixture on Friday - which is also away to Brighton. "Reece is OK," Maresca revealed. "Against Brighton in the cup, it was planned to give him a rest. He had some rest in the last days but he is available."

The Italian boss also confirmed that Wesley Fofana returned to training and just "needs two or three weeks". "It is a good feeling that he is back with us," Maresca beamed.

Romeo Lavia will be available once again after the international break and Benoit Badiashile is "in the process to come back with us".

Chelsea's first fixture after club football's hiatus in March is a visit from London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on 2 April.