Chelsea injury news: Enzo Maresca names duo that made him ‘afraid’ ahead of Newcastle United double header

Newcastle United face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and St James’ Park in back-to-back matches which could play a defining role in how the season plays out.

Both teams have ambitions of finishing in Europe and picking up silverware this season and the pair are both looking to bounce back from costly defeats to their European rivals at the weekend. Newcastle fell to their first home defeat since January in a 1-0 loss to Brighton, courtesy of a goal from Danny Welbeck. 

Meanwhile, Chelsea were unable to beat early pacesetters Liverpool in a tightly-contested 2-1 defeat at Anfield. The match in Merseyside saw Enzo Maresca reintroduce club captain Reece James and last summer’s £58m signing Romeo Lavia to the starting line-up for the first time this season.

The pair have both struggled with injuries in recent months but are now expected to elevate the team’s chances of success in the Premier League after a two-year absence from the top four. However, both were substituted before the hour mark in the contest, and Maresca admitted that he was afraid of the pair getting injured ahead of kick-off.

In his post-match press conference, the ex-Leicester City boss explained: “For James and Romeo, it was 45 minutes to one hour maximum. I was a bit afraid to give them more minutes on the pitch. So I decided to change them after 50, 55 minutes.”

Chelsea dropped to sixth in the table after the defeat, leaving them two points and two places ahead of Newcastle in the race for European football. Despite the defeat, Maresca had plenty of positive things to say about his team’s display. 

“I think many good things about the performance,” The Italian said. “Overall it was very good, to come to this stadium against this team and dominate most of the game is not easy. If we were able to maintain the 1-1 for longer then probably the result would have been different. My intention was to come here and play the way we are training every day and that was clear.”

Chelsea, who eliminated Newcastle in the Carabao Cup last season, play host to the Magpies on Sunday in a huge Premier League encounter, before meeting Newcastle again at St James’ Park in a repeat of last year’s quarter-final tie.

The Blues have beaten Newcastle in both of their last two meetings across all competitions, but did suffer a 4-1 defeat in the Premier League in their last visit to St James’ Park, with Alexander Isak, Jamaal Lascelles, Joelinton and Anthony Gordon bagging the goals in November last year.