Jackson led the Blues attack on Monday evening against West Ham United but was withdrawn early in the second period due to a hamstring injury. Guiu was his replacement and although the Spaniard completed the game, he had to be helped down the tunnel by assistant coach Willy Caballero at full time.

Maresca was asked at his pre-match press conference about the duo and explained Guiu will be absent for our match on the south coast.

'Marc is unfortunately a bad injury,' said the Blues head coach. 'Nico is better and he could be [fit for the game]. But it could also be a risk [to play him] so we will see. But it doesn't look like a long injury.

'Marc could be [a long injury]. We are still waiting to know the extent but it doesn’t look like a short injury, it looks long. Exactly how long, we don’t know yet. Probably weeks.'

Defenders Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile are long-term absentees and Maresca also confirmed midfielder Romeo Lavia remains unavailable. The midfielder has been sidelined since our 2-2 draw against Bournemouth last month.

‘Romeo is still in the process of coming back,' explained the Chelsea boss. 'But it’s still a long way to go.'