Noni Madueke and Romeo Lavia are fit and available to represent Chelsea against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
Chelsea will be desperate to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they welcome Bournemouth to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening. And Enzo Maresca has greeted positive updates on the team news front ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Reece James, Romeo Lavia, and Noni Madueke are fit and available, with the latter recovering from an illness that forced him to miss the FA Cup game against Morecambe. However, Wesley Fofana (hamstring), Benoit Badiashile (thigh), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (unspecified), and Omari Kellyman (thigh) remain on the sidelines.
In addition, Mykhailo Mudryk remains unavailable after recently failing a doping test. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Maresca confirmed that James, Lavia, and Madueke would be fit and available to take on Bournemouth.
The Chelsea manager said, “Yes, Reece and Romeo are okay [for Bournemouth], we are very happy for both. They played 45 mins the other day [against Morecambe] and are available for the next game. They are available and as we said, we will try to manage both because they are a bit of a delicate situation. Noni is back and he’s available after illness. He’s trained with us and he’s 100 per cent fit for tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Maresca also placed his confidence in Nicolas Jackson amid his recent dry run, saying, “He has to continue to work in the way he is working. We are completely happy with Nicolas and don’t judge him just because of goals, we judge him on different things. We are completely happy and he has to continue in the way he is working and for sure he is going to score goals.”
Jackson will spearhead the Chelsea attack against Bournemouth on Tuesday, with Jadon Sancho, Pedro Neto, and Cole Palmer joining him in the final third. As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo in the double pivot. So, Romeo Lavia will be a backup option on the bench.
The backline should see one pleasantly surprising decision, with Josh Acheampong joining Levi Colwill, Marc Cucurella, and Malo Gusto in the defensive quartet. Finally, Robert Sanchez will take his spot between the sticks. So, Reece James and Noni Madueke will be backup options on the bench.
Predicted Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Gusto, Acheampong, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Caicedo; Sancho, Palmer, Neto; Jackson
