In Thursday’s victory over Tottenham Hotspur, Reece James was a second-half substitute while Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia were absent and will also miss our trip to Brentford on Sunday.  

The workload of James, Fofana and Lavia has been carefully handled this term, and Maresca has highlighted the progress each have made after challenging 2023/24 campaigns due to long-term injuries.  

James has already surpassed his minutes total from last season while Fofana has featured 14 times across all competitions and Lavia has played 13 games.  

Muscle injuries will keep Fofana and Lavia out of our trip to the Gtech Community Stadium this weekend, and Maresca says he will look to continue protecting players who have previously endured significant spells on the sidelines. 

‘Wes had a muscle problem a few days and we are waiting for more checks,’ the Blues head coach explained ahead of Sunday’s game.  

‘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. 

‘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 he 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.’