Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has shared that one player was absent from training earlier in the week with illness ahead of the trip to Liverpool.
Now that the international break is over, Chelsea will be focused on their upcoming game away to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League.
Enzo Maresca will be hoping to see his side put out a real statement when they travel to the current league leaders.
Maresca confirmed Reece James is available against Liverpool as he returns from a hamstring injury. The Chelsea manager has raised a question mark about a different player due to illness, though.
Enzo Maresca update on Ben Chilwell
Maresca has explained that Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell missed a few days training this week, so he’ll need a late test before Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.
The £50m defender (Sky Sports) is down the pecking order right now at Stamford Bridge, playing just one game so far this season. As it stands, he’s behind both Marc Cucurella and Renato Veiga in the battle for the starting left-back position. However, regular starter Cucurella is suspended this weekend.
When asked if Chilwell could come into the squad against Liverpool because of Cucurella’s suspension, Maresca said via Football.London: “Chilly is one of our players. Unfortunately, the previous three or four days, apart from yesterday, he was ill so he didn’t get any sessions. We will see how he is today and tomorrow.”
Ben Chilwell would be useful on the bench against Liverpool
We have to respect Maresca’s decision to outline Cucurella and Veiga as his preferred left-backs. In the meantime, we don’t expect to see Chilwell play too much this season while he’s still at Stamford Bridge.
It’s still a big ask throwing 21-year-old youngster Veiga into the starting team against Liverpool when he’ll be directly up against superstar winger Mohamed Salah, one of the best attackers in Premier League history.
It may be the sensible move to put the experience of Chilwell on the bench this weekend because he’s faced Salah several times in his career.
For Chilwell, it’s about keeping himself fit and staying professional during a challenging period. However, the full-back does continue to be linked with an entire host of clubs in the transfer rumour mill.
FootballTransfers claimed this week that Leicester City are interested in re-signing Chilwell in January.
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