London giants Chelsea are one of the few teams to have remained unbeaten in the ongoing English Premier League season, having won two and shared the spoils in the remainder. With major tweaks in the squad, they will be looking to extend the streak when they travel to Brentford during this weekend’s fixture.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is unsure of when their recruit, Alejandro Garnacho, who is yet to attain match fitness, will be able to make his debut for the club on Saturday. After four seasons with Manchester United, during which he was part of a victorious FA Cup-winning team, the Argentine was roped in by Chelsea during the summer transfer window.
“He's working well. For sure, he needs to work because he arrived probably not 100% fit. So he needs to work. He's working well and we'll see, but hopefully soon we can give him minutes,” said Enzo Maresca during the pre-match press conference.
On the other hand, Chelsea captain Reece James started twice for the England national team during the international break, which raised concerns about his availability for the League fixture. Regarding the same, Maresca was not ready to give an excuse and stated that the side-back is fit to play three matches in a week.
"In the moment that any player join international team, is free to play the minutes that the manager thinks that he has to play. So it's not in my hands. When Reece is here, we try to manage him as much as we can. But I think now Reece is showing that he's is quite fit to play two, three games in a week," Maresca elaborated.
Fatigue and injury issues have hit England hard this season. Cole Palmer, who picked up an injury during warm-up ahead of their win over West Ham United, is yet to recover fully, although a call on him will be taken after the final training session in the build-up to the Brentford clash.
“Yesterday, for the first time, he trained, not the entire session. Today in the afternoon we have one more session. We're gonna try with him if we see he's (ready), it's okay otherwise, he will be out tomorrow again,” remarked Maresca.
Meanwhile, Brazilian stars like Joao Pedro, Andrey Santos and Estevao Willian have all arrived a day back and did “recovery work”. Meanwhile, Ecuador’s Moises Caicedo, who picked up a red card during their World Cup Qualifier against Argentina, also returned to London. The Italian manager stated that the availability of the South American contingent for the upcoming match seems bleak.
Among the long-term injuries, Maresca informed that Liam Delap will be out for 10-12 weeks, while Levi Colwill, who has suffered an ACL injury, is unlikely to get action soon. Colwill was a regular starter for ‘The Blues’ in the last couple of seasons, having led them to the FIFA Club World Cup title earlier this year.
Chelsea have a string of matches in the coming 10 days, including marquee fixtures - against Manchester United in the Premier League and against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. It will be a real test for the players and the Club World Cup-winning manager.
