Chelsea travel to Craven Cottage for a west London derby against Fulham within the Premier League on Sunday, trying to get back to winning ways.
The Blues suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Legia Warsaw within the Conference League on Thursday, in a result which saw their players booed off the pitch despite their progression to the semi-finals of the European competition.
The second leg loss to Legia Warsaw followed Premier League draws against Ipswich Town and Bretford, with Chelsea having now won just certainly one of their last 4 games across all competitions under Enzo Maresca.
Next up is an away clash against Fulham and Chelsea can be eager to clinch bragging rights against their west London rivals and boost their hopes of Champions League qualification for the 2025-26 campaign.
Chelsea have benefited from an injury boost ahead of the sport at Fulham with Maresca confirming that Romeo Lavia is in contention to feature.
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The Belgian midfielder has missed Chelsea’s last three Premier League games with a thigh problem.
‘Romeo is back,’ Chelsea head coach Maresca said in his pre-match press conference.
‘He’s training with us and may be available for Sunday’s game. With him, we’re going to try the identical thing we try with Reece (James).
‘I would love to play Reece every three days, but we try to administer him to assist him. We’ll attempt to do the exact same thing with Romeo because, for us, he’s a vital player.’
Several players were rested for the match against Legia Warsaw last trip and look set to make their respective returns to the Chelsea XI.
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‘We rested Enzo (Fernandez), Moi (Caicedo), Levi (Colwill), Noni (Madueke), Pedro (Neto),’ Maresca added. ‘We rested many players.’
‘We’re, obviously, not glad concerning the Conference League result, but at the identical time, we try to administer a little bit bit and rotate players.’
Chelsea can be without Wesley Fofana, Omari Kellyman and Marc Guiu for the sport against Fulham – who’re all ruled out with injury.
Mykhailo Mudryk, meanwhile, stays suspended and may even play no part on this weekend’s west London derby.
Fulham are hoping to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat to AFC Bournemouth against Chelsea on Sunday.
Marco Silva’s side have Reiss Nelson ruled out with injury and it stays to be seen if Harry Wilson can be fit to make his return or not.
Predicted Chelsea XI to face Fulham
Sanchez, Cucurella, Colwill, Tosin, James, Caicedo, Fernandez, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson
Where to look at Fulham vs Chelsea? Kick-off time and TV channel
Fulham vs Chelsea kicks off at 2pm BST on Sunday, April 20.
The west London derby will not be shown on TV in the UK. Sky Sports Premier League is showing Ipswich vs Arsenal as a substitute, which gets underway at the very same time.
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