Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca gave a concerning injury update about absent midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia following Monday night’s Premier League win over Wolves.

It was an important victory for Chelsea, their first in the league in over a month, and three points that pushed them back into the table’s top four.

But the otherwise out of favour Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was handed his first Premier League start for the club due to both Fernandez and Lavia being unavailable following the previous game.

The pair had started together in midfield against Bournemouth, with Lavia getting his chance because Moises Caicedo was temporarily repurposed as a right-back. But each picked up muscle issues that subsequently kept them out of Wolves’ Stamford Bridge visit.

Lavia has a more serious problem. But the most concerning aspect is that, even several days later, Maresca conceded there still wasn’t a known timeframe for their respective recoveries.

“Romeo is more important than Enzo,” he told reporters. “We don’t know yet how long they are going to be out. Hopefully not too long. [It’s] muscle fatigue or muscle problem. We need to wait a little bit. Both were against Bournemouth.”

Fernandez has been captaining Chelsea for much of the season, although club skipper Reece James was back in the starting lineup on Monday and impressed against Matheus Cunha. Lavia managed a run of games in October and November, but his appearance against Bournemouth was frustratingly only his first in the Premier League since recovering from a previous hamstring injury.

Chelsea’s midfield depth without Fernandez and Lavia is thin. There were no spare midfielders on the bench on Monday night, with doubts over whether Dewsbury-Hall is up to the standard expected.

Defenders Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana also remain out, but the good news is that Levi Colwill has been declared “better now” and should be available to face Manchester City on Saturday.

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