Enzo Maresca reacts to Romeo Lavia’s injury setback as Chelsea take on Wolves | OneFootball

Chelsea return to Premier League duty less than three days after their gruelling Champions League outing in Azerbaijan, where they were held to a 2-2 draw by Qarabag.

Wednesday’s underdogs made it difficult for Enzo Maresca’s troops to maintain their recent momentum.

Chelsea will now shift their focus to domestic matters as they welcomes relegation-battling Wolverhampton Wanderers to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The quick turnaround leaves Chelsea manager Maresca with several selection dilemmas, especially around the fitness of winger Pedro Neto.

The Portuguese winger has been a key player for Chelsea this season, bagging two goals and two assists in 10 Premier League games.

He missed the midweek Champions League clash due to what Maresca described as a ‘small issue’.

Speaking ahead of the game, the Italian tactician confirmed that Neto’s involvement is touch-and-go.

“Pedro [Neto] had a session yesterday with the physio outside on the pitch, it was good,” Maresca said during his pre-match press conference.

“Today he will try with us and then we will take the final decision [as to whether he can face Wolves].”

While there’s cautious optimism around Neto, the same cannot be said for midfielder Romeo Lavia.

The Belgium international only lasted eight minutes against Qarabag before he was forced off with a quad injury and has been ruled out for this weekend’s fixture.

Maresca has tried to manage Lavia’s minutes and nurse him back to full fitness the same way he did with Chelsea skipper Reece James, whose injury days seem to be behind him.

However, the same formula hasn’t worked for Lavia, whose latest setback has left Maresca frustrated.

“We don’t have an update at the moment,” Maresca added. “We need to wait still some hours to do all the checks he needs. For sure, he has an injury.

“It’s a shame because we are trying to minimise minutes for him, even with that, he is injured again. But we need to persist until we find the right solution for him.”