Malo Gusto injury timeline given as Chelsea confirm three players to miss Everton clash

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Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has provided a full injury update on his squad of players ahead of the upcoming match against Everton.

On Saturday afternoon, Chelsea host Everton at Stamford Bridge in a vital Premier League fixture.

The Blues go into the weekend sitting sixth in the Premier League table, but they need to end up in the top five to secure Champions League qualification for next season.

There are five league games remaining for Chelsea to climb back into the Champions League positions, where they’ve sat for the majority of the campaign. Incidentally, UEFA are discussing changes to the Champions League format for next year.

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Enzo Maresca confirms Malo Gusto is unavailable against Everton

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Malo Gusto, 21, won’t feature against Everton because of an injury. However, he’s optimistic that the French full-back may only miss one game as he’s already training again outdoors.

On top of that, Maresca shared that Marc Guiu and Aaron Anselmino, both 19, remain unavailable with respective long-term injuries.

Apart from that, Chelsea have a fully fit squad to choose from on Saturday at home to Everton.

Maresca said via Chelsea’s official YouTube channel: “Malo is injured, but it doesn’t look like an important injury. He’s already running and doing things outside, but he won’t be available for tomorrow. Hopefully he can be available for the next one.

“Marc Guiu is still out. Aaron Anselmino is still out, but the rest are still fit. The rest are all fit. [Marc] is close; hopefully one or two weeks, and he can be with us for the final part of the season.”

Gusto made a positive impact when he came on as a half-time substitute in last Sunday’s 2-1 away win at Fulham. Unfortunately, the young defender was forced off just before the end of the game through injury.

Enzo Maresca was worried about Malo Gusto immediately after the Fulham match, describing his injury as “not a good one”.

The good news for both Chelsea and Gusto is the timeline on his return from injury sounds very short.

Malo Gusto could get a new contract because he’s seen as an important figure for the Blues. The fact that he provides cover for Reece James at right-back and sometimes covers at left-back makes him a very useful squad option.

Chelsea vs Everton head to head

As mentioned above, there’s a lot riding on the upcoming contest for Chelsea against Everton.

It’s been a challenging fixture for the Blues in recent times, which may become even tougher now that David Moyes is back in the manager’s dugout for the Toffees.

Here is a look at the results in the previous five meetings between the Premier League ever-presents:

If Chelsea do drop points this time around against Everton, we fear it could be a significant blow and end their hopes of Champions League qualification.