Chelsea injury update: Maresca provides insight on Fofana and Lavia ahead of Brentford clash

Chelsea's injury situation has seen some key players, including Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia, ruled out ahead of their upcoming match against Brentford.

Lavia's absence from Thursday’s London derby against Tottenham Hotspur was anticipated, but the omission of Fofana came as a surprise. The French defender had only recently made his return from a significant hamstring injury and had featured in the match against Arsenal before the international break in March.

Despite their injuries, Chelsea managed to secure a narrow 1-0 win over Tottenham. However, manager Enzo Maresca and the team would surely benefit from having Fofana and Lavia available for selection as they prepare for the next fixture.

Maresca speaks on Fofana, Lavia

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday night, Maresca gave an update on the pair, indicating that there is currently no specific timeframe for their respective returns.

As quoted by football.london, the Italian said on Fofana: "A muscle problem a few days ago and we are waiting for some more checks."

He added: "We don't know yet. We are waiting for both. Romeo looks a little bit better injury compared to Wes, in terms of probably Romeo can be back earlier than Wes."

While Chelsea face a hectic run of fixtures due to the Conference League quarter-final with Legia Warsaw, neither Fofana or Lavia have been included in the European squad due to their fitness battles.

As well as Fofana missing the entirety of 2023-24 with a serious knee injury, Lavia only made one substitute appearance at the end of December.

Although Lavia has made nine starts and four substitute outings this campaign, he has been sidelined with injury on several occasions.

Nevertheless, Maresca is not too downbeat on the situation, saying: "If you compare Romeo's games this season to last season, he's already improved. Because this season it was difficult to go the other way.

"But the target with Romeo is just to try to keep him fit as much as we can. The next year he'll play more games than this season."

Fofana and Lavia now have 10 days to try to recover for the Premier League fixture with Ipswich Town on April 13, it seemingly apparent that only Lavia may have a chance of returning to the squad.