Chelsea: Enzo Maresca reveals comeback plan with major injury boost for Fulham derby | OneFootball

Blues star back in training and ready to play at Craven Cottage this weekend

Struggle: Romeo Lavia’s Chelsea career to date has been plagued by injury problems

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Romeo Lavia is in line to make his latest Chelsea comeback when the Blues travel to Fulham in the Premier League this weekend.

After an encouraging start, Lavia’s season has been heavily disrupted by a series of injuries and twice already in 2025 he has returned to make just one league appearance before breaking down again.

The Belgian last featured as a late substitute against Arsenal in mid-March but then picked up a muscle issue in training during the international break.

Prior to that, he had recovered from a hamstring injury to start against Bournemouth in mid-January, only to miss the next two months with a similar problem.

Lavia has been back in training this week but was left out of Chelsea’s European squad at the start of the season and therefore could not be eased back into action with a cameo against Legia Warsaw in the Conference League on Thursday.

First-choice midfield pair Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez were both rested for that game, meaning Lavia is unlikely to start at Craven Cottage, but Maresca confirmed he is ready to play if needed.

“Romeo is back, he’s training with us and he can be available for Sunday,” the Italian said.

Lavia saw almost the entirety of his first season at Chelsea wiped out by injury and despite a good run as a key member of Maresca’s team prior to Christmas, has still played fewer than 600 minutes this term.

The Blues are dealing with several players whose young careers have been similarly injury-plagued, including captain Reece James and Wesley Fofana, who is currently sidelined again.

“With [Lavia], we’re going to try the same thing that we are trying with Reece,” Maresca added. “I would like to play Reece every three days but we are trying to manage him, to help him.

“Exactly the same thing, we are going to try to do with Romeo because for us he is an important player.”