Enzo Maresca hopes Chelsea will be boosted by the return of five first team players by the time his side play Tottenham Hotspur on April 2.
Chelsea suffered another setback this week when a scan on Nicolas Jackson showed his hamstring problem sustained against West Ham United was more serious than first thought and leaves the striker facing six weeks on the sidelines.
Jackson joins Marc Guiu (muscular), Romeo Lavia (muscular), Wesley Fofana (hamstring) and Benoit Badiashile (hamstring) among the list of players unavailable for selection.
But Maresca has revealed Fofana, Lavia and Badiashile are all on the comeback trail, while he is optimistic Jackson and Guiu can return after the international break in March.
He said: “Nico will be out until after the international break and will probably be available after. Marc will be out for a while. Romeo Lavia is in the process to come back with us, Benoit Badiashile exactly the same. Wes Fofana started to work with us two days ago and that means he will still need two to three weeks at least to be 100 per cent fit with us but at least he starts to work with us.”
Maresca further eased concerns over captain Reece James, who was not in the squad for the 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion last week, by confirming he is available to face Fabian Hurzeler’s side in the Premier League match between the two teams tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Maresca has made it even clearer that Filip Jorgensen is Chelsea’s first choice keeper for the foreseeable future.
Maresca started Jorgensen instead of Robert Sanchez in the last Premier League against West Ham and explained it was to give the latter a break after some high-profile mistakes.
Sanchez was recalled for the Brighton cup match last weekend, but Maresca says that Jorgensen is Chelsea’s No 1 right now.
He added: “The idea is not to go game by game and change the keeper. In the last Premier League game it was Filip. Unfortunately the FA Cup game was Robert, but our keeper in this moment is Filip.
“I spoke with Robert a few days before West Ham when I took the decision to play with Filip and I have not spoken again with Robert. With Filip it is exactly the same. They know in this moment the situation.”
Pressed on whether Jorgensen will remain as the main goalkeeper until the end of the season, Maresca replied: ”This is the situation now and then we will see.”
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(Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
