Enzo Maresca reveals reason behind Romeo Lavia's absence from Chelsea's Premier League match against Wolves

Enzo Maresca explained that he decided to err on the side of caution and not take any risks with Romeo Lavia's slight hamstring injury in Chelsea's Premier League match against Wolves.

Lavia, 20, had looked likely to start at Molineux after a bright showing in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to reigning champions Manchester City last Sunday.

The Belgium international – who missed the vast majority of last season through injury – also featured in Chelsea’s midweek win over Swiss outfit Servette, replacing Moises Caicedo in the closing stages at Stamford Bridge.

But this afternoon, Lavia has been left out of Maresca’s squad altogether, with Caicedo, Enzo Fernandes and Cole Palmer given the nod behind an attack of Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk and Nicolas Jackson.

As expected, Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell also miss out and it appears the England duo could both be set for the exit door before the summer transfer deadline.

There had been some speculation that Robert Sanchez may be replaced by summer signing Filip Jorgenson in goal after a shaky display against City, but the Spaniard keeps his place between the sticks.

Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana, Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella make up the Blues’ defence, which will be targeting a clean sheet against Gary O’Neil’s Wolves side who remain winless following defeat at Arsenal previously.

Your Chelsea line-up to play Wolves!

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Speaking before before kick-off, Maresca confirmed that Lavia was missing with a hamstring ‘irritation’, the latest setback in a frustrating start to life at Chelsea for the youngster.

But Maresca played down the severity of the problem and said the issue was hopefully ‘nothing serious’.

‘He has a small problem with his hamstring, an irritation but nothing that is a major problem. It’s nothing serious but one that we didn’t want to risk,’ the Italian explained.

Lavia has made just three appearances in all competitions for Chelsea’s first-team since his £58million move from Southampton in August 2023.

Our first Molineux line-up of the 24/25 @premierleague season as we prepare to take on @ChelseaFC.

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Lavia came away from Chelsea’s opening loss to City with a positive mindset and felt there were plenty of reasons to be cheerful despite the result.

‘Obviously, the result didn’t go our way today on the pitch, but I think the way we are playing and the way we are now is exactly where we want to be,’ he told the club’s official website.

‘We are taking the good things and focusing on the next game.

‘We felt like we had the chance to get on top but it didn’t happen. They were clinical, but we had the chance to come back at times.’

Lavia added: ‘When you play against good teams you know that these types of things can happen.

‘It’s about learning from it. It’s only the first game of the season. There are 38 games in the season and as you can see something is growing, you can definitely see that on the pitch.

‘I think there are a lot of positives to take from this game, we had a lot of chances.’

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