The Blues, eight-time winners of the oldest club competition in football, begin our journey in the latest instalment of the FA Cup with a home tie against Morecambe of League Two this weekend.

Maresca, who stated at his pre-match press conference that he’s seen plenty of the Shrimps in action to prepare his side for the game, also confirmed James and Lavia could be set for minutes at Stamford Bridge when confirming the latest team news to the gathered media.

‘Yes Reece and Romeo are both available and hopefully they can get some minutes for tomorrow’s game,’ Maresca confirmed.

‘The rest are all available for selection other than those that were already injured from before. Benoit Badiashile and Wesley [Fofana] are out and Kiernan [Dewsbury-Hall] is still injured, so he won’t be involved.’

Asked whether Argentine defender Aaron Anselmino could feature following his recent recall from a loan at Boca Juniors, combined with the injuries to Badiashile and Fofana, Maresca confirmed the young centre-back will be allowed time to settle into life at Cobham and won’t be in contention to make his Chelsea debut this weekend.

‘No, we won’t see Aaron [against Morecambe],’ our head coach added. ‘It’s still too early for him and the plan is to get him into condition to get him some minutes in the future, but not now.

'He had some injuries while with Boca and we will give him time to settle in here. To get used to English football, English weather and from there, we will look to use him.’

Maresca was the last head coach to face us at Stamford Bridge, when his Leicester side pushed us close last season before we eventually ran out 4-2 winners.

The Italian, therefore, is no stranger to how prestigious the competition is and is leaving no stone unturned in our preparation for the visit of the League Two side.

‘The FA Cup is very important,’ said Maresca. ‘It’s another competition and as I’ve said since the start, we want to do well in every competition - whether that’s the Premier League, the Conference League, the Carabao Cup or the FA Cup.

‘Tomorrow’s game against Morecambe is no different, we go to win like we do every match. It’s an important competition because it has so much history and culture attached to it.

‘We are prepared for the game and I know a lot about Morecambe now because we’ve watched many of their videos to be ready for tomorrow.’