Enzo Maresca has revealed that one Chelsea star might be sidelined for ‘months’ after suffering a ‘bad injury’ ahead of the FA Cup clash with Brighton.
The Blues travel to the Seagulls twice in the identical week, as they meet on the Amex on Saturday night within the FA Cup fourth round before a Premier League match next Friday.
Having won just two of their last eight league fixtures, Maresca might be hoping the cup tie can reinvigorate his sides’s form as they chase trophies and a top 4 finish.
Nevertheless, they’ve be handed a serious issue in attack with Maresca confirming that each Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu picked up injuries in the course of the 2-1 win over West Ham, with one in every of them potentially out for the long-term.
‘Marc unfortunately has a foul injury. No [I can’t give a timeframe] because we’re still waiting,’ the top coach said in his pre-match press conference.
‘It doesn’t look a brief injury, it looks an extended injury. Exactly how long, we don’t know. Probably weeks or months.
‘Nico is healthier. May very well be [fit for Saturday].
‘It also might be a risk but we’ll see. However it doesn’t look an extended injury.’
Guiu would likely have featured and potentially began against Brighton within the cup having played the complete 90 minutes of the 5-0 win over Morecambe within the third round.
Though he’s been third-choice striker behind Jackson and Christopher Nkunku, the 19-year-old is a highly-rated talent, scoring six in 13 appearances at a rate of a goal every 96 minutes.
He moved to west London from Barcelona last summer for just £5million and if this injury is serious it could well hamper Chelsea’s probabilities of winning the FA Cup and UEFA Conference League.
But despite also losing Joao Felix on deadline day, Maresca is ‘absolutely’ confident he has enough centre-forward options for the remainder of the season, adding: ‘Before the last game, we had two strikers, Nico and Marc.
‘Sometimes we adapt also Christo there but in case each of them are out, we’re going to search out a special solution.
‘I spoke already last week about Christo. Against West Ham, he played already kind of half an hour. Any longer, he can hopefully get some more minutes and help us.’
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