Skipper James was part of the matchday squad in our last game against Ipswich Town and, although the right-back didn’t take to the pitch in Suffolk, Maresca hinted in his pre-match press conference ahead of Crystal Palace that the England international could feature against the Eagles when we kick-off 2025.

Chelsea will, however, be without the services of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Selhurst Park, while long-term absentees Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile both remain out for the foreseeable future. Lavia is working with the group and could make his return soon.

While updating on the latest team news to the media at Cobham, Maresca began by previewing tomorrow’s difficult trip to Palace and why the head coach hopes to see us begin 2025 with victory.

‘The focus is on tomorrow's game,’ Maresca said at his pre-match press conference. ‘It is an important game like the rest, so for now the focus is just on tomorrow.

‘Absolutely we don't like to lose games and drop points, but it's not going to affect our journey because we all know and are aware that during the season you are going to lose games.

'We finished the first part of the season, now we are going to start the second part thinking again we are going to win games, we are going to lose games, but the important part is to see how the team is improving game-by-game and things that we can do better.'

Turning his attention to Saturday's team news, our head coach is hoping our captain could be involved after remaining on the bench for the trip to Portman Road.

‘Reece is back and he was with us in the squad in the last game. For the last game against Ipswich, he was with us just to be with us in the squad. The plan was not to give him and minutes but tomorrow is different, we can give him minutes. We all know how important Reece is for us so hopefully he can get minutes very soon.

‘Romeo is very close and he has started to work with us. We all consider Romeo a top player, but the most important thing for this type of player is to be fit. There is no doubt when Romeo is fit he is a top player, we need to just understand how we can help him to not get injured.

‘Kiernan is still out. Unfortunately, Wes will be out for a very long time and Benoit will be out at least until February.’

Maresca updated further on Fofana’s hamstring injury, with the head coach confirming that the defender will be sidelined for a significant period without putting an exact timescale on any potential return date.

‘With Wes, we don’t know exactly how long he could be out for, but he has a hamstring injury and unfortunately we are going to lose him for a while,’ added Enzo.

‘I have said many times that I love Wes and of course not having him available is a huge loss for us.’