Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca says he will continue to managing the fitness and playing time of key squad members as the Blues push to secure a Champions League place for next season.
In Thursday’s London derby win over Tottenham, Reece James made a second-half appearance from the bench.
However, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia were not involved and have also been ruled out of Sunday’s away fixture against Brentford by the boss.
Maresca has overseen a careful reintegration of James, Fofana, and Lavia throughout the season, following extended injury setbacks in the last two seasons.
James has already logged more minutes than he did last term and Fofana has played in 14 matches, while Lavia has featured 13 times.
Speaking ahead of the Brentford match on Sunday, Maresca offered updates on the current status of his recovering players.
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“Wes had a muscle problem a few days and we are waiting for more checks,” he said.
“For Sunday, Romeo is out. If you compare Romeo’s games this season to last season, he has already improved. But the target with Romeo is just to try to keep him fit as much as we can and play more games next season than this season.”
The Chelsea boss went on to discuss how the club is handling Reece James’s return to regular football.
He added: “We are trying to do the same with Reece (James), it’s not the same but a similar situation. Reece [against Tottenham] was on the bench, he is one of our best players, but he was on the bench because we try to take care of him.”
“We know that in this moment he can’t play every three days, hopefully soon he can, but the main target with him, Romeo and Wes is to keep them fit because we know how important they are for us.”
